International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Dr. Atul Kumar,Assistant Professor
Abstract: Value chain research in agriculture plays a crucial role in improving operational efficiency, fostering better integration across sectors, and enhancing responsiveness to market changes, thereby increasing competitiveness. In the sugar industry, this type of research has grown significantly over the last 20 years, mainly in response to consistently low global sugar prices and rising production expenses. This paper investigates upcoming opportunities for value chain research to help create more economically viable and environmentally sustainable sugar industries across various countries. It does so by: (a) reviewing existing sugar industry value chain studies, (b) analyzing changes driven by value chain research using examples from Australia and South Africa, (c) identifying challenges in implementing such research, and (d) exploring how strategies used in other industries could be adapted to sugar. The findings reveal that value chain improvements require more than technical upgrades—they demand coordinated involvement from all chain participants and a phased change management approach. Although sugar value chain research has often focused on creating lean systems, there may be even greater advantages in building agile, adaptable chains. The study also suggests that advanced modeling techniques, such as multi-agent systems, may be better suited for tackling the complexity of sugar value chains. While the paper centers on the sugar industry, the insights are broadly applicable to other agricultural supply chains
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16750274
