Environmental Sustainability of the Agro-food Industry through Strategic Green Supply Chain Management

The agro-food industry and environmental sustainability are two areas that have raised concern among scholars in recent times. When it comes to the agro-food industry it is one of the most important and controversial industries in terms of environmental impact. Therefore, the concern towards establishing green elements within the supply chain has become essential for related actors to operate responsibly in the industry. Hence, this research would provide benefits to a range of organizations engaged in upstream and downstream supply chains such as farming, packaging, warehousing, distributing entities, and customers. The purpose of this research is to critically evaluate and establish a strategic green supply chain management framework for the agro-food industry. Thus, the key objectives are outlined as follows: to evaluate key areas and specific elements in Green Supply Chain, to evaluate the key elements, green practices or strategies specific to the agrofood industry, and finally, to develop and establish an effective strategic green supply chain management framework for the agro-food industry. This study used systematic review as its research strategy. The PRISMA flow diagram was applied to select the journal articles for the review. Accordingly, 14 articles were selected and analyzed using the thematic synthesizing technique. The findings indicated that the general green supply chain elements would not be applicable as it is at the agro-food supply chain due to the nature of the industry. It also observed that the expansion in the agrofood industry does necessarily generate considerable environmental hazards mainly in farming, processing and packaging, transportation, and warehousing echelons. The proposed strategic framework for the agro-food industry is a comprehensive approach to guide the respective supply chain partners while educating them on strategies to minimize the environmental hazards, factors require for the implementation, and areas of organizational performance.