Critical Issues in the Supply Chain Management of Kashmiri Apple: An Exploratory Study

Apple production is the main occupation and highly profitable economic activity in the Kashmir valley (India). The state is exporting apple and its products to almost all the major apple markets in India and other countries particularly to Middle East. In the current competitive global market, the pressure on organisations to find sustainable strategies for delivering value to its stakeholders has grown even stronger. In developing countries particularly India the supply chain of agricultural products is traditional and involves value loss at different stages of supply chain of apple products which escalates the cost of the final product. The present paper intends to focus on “missing values” and the critical issues of supply chain of fresh apples in the study area. Sustainable production, commercialisation and market development are not possible without curbing the different missing values in the whole supply chain of apple. The research highlights different missing values in the supply chain of apple, right from input stage to output stage. With the overcome of these missing values, growth and development of apple sector and subsequently economic development of Kashmir is quite possible.