Achieving food security through supply chain management

Respected business personality Rohantha Athukorala addressing the Institute of Supply Chain and Material Management (ISMM) said that almost 40 per cent of the produce gets wasted due to poor supply chain management in Sri Lanka.

“It is the duty of such institutes like ISMM to drive this concept to the SME sector, which accounts for over 75% of the economy and over 80% of the country’s exports,” he asserted.

Athukorala, quoting the latest research done in Harvard University, commented that by the 2050, there will be almost nine billion people, but the resources that will be available will be more or less the same. Hence there has been evidence to demonstrate that there is a strong positive correlation between supply chain management and a country achieving food security, he noted.

“There are three concepts to supply chain management: Availability (at location when items are demanded), access (being able to offer that supply) and stability (access to sufficient good). These concepts highlight the importance of supply chain management,” he highlighted.

Athukorala said that with the science of supply chain management cascaded at university level and in the north and east, which are essentially agriculture-based, Sri Lanka can avoid any food security issues in the future given that it was these youth who would be taking up key positions in the private and public sector corporations.

He also said that whilst a focused approach was pursued, an institute of the calibre of ISMM should stage an international conference on a theme such as ‘Food Security via SCM’ so that Sri Lanka could attract a new segment of people from overseas in to Sri Lanka and thereby showcase our beautiful country.

“This should be the duty of any institute given the challenges that the country is faced with globally. Taking the high ground on supply chain issues is good for the institute as it helps Sri Lanka be identified as a country that drives best practices in the region,” he said.

ISMM President Danesha Perera said that the institute invites key personalities from other professions to share new thoughts with the membership so that it would help generate new ideas and improve performance.

“We as an institute focus on knowledge development and this programme gives a broader dimension to our role in the country so that we can address a key issue like food security,” he added.