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ABSTRACT
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.
Keywords: Critical issues, Supply Chain Management, Apple, Missing Values, Kashmir.
INTRODUCTION:
The Apple (Botanical Name of Apple is malus domestica·) is one of the principal fruits, grown in temperate region of the world. It has colorful appearance, crispy flesh, pleasant flavor and sweet taste that attract the consumers and fetch good price. Apple is a rosaceous fruit tree, belonging to genus Malus and is the most widely grown fruit tree having high economic value. However, growth and vigor are best in rich sandy loams, but apple also grows well in heavier clay soils as long as they are well drained (Fiala, 1994). Major part of the production is consumed fresh and smaller part of the production is processed in juices, jellies and other jam items. Mostly the Indian apples are grown in three regions- Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where they are cultivated at an altitude of 4000 to 11000 feet. Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have roughly equal production area for apple, but J&K has the higher average yield (output), which accounts to 67 percent of total apple production in India. (Anonymous, 2003).Jammu and Kashmir...