Digital Transformation of Agri-Food Supply Chains in Developing Economies

The thesis is titled “From Waste to Resilience: Policy Development for Digital Transformation of Agri-Food Supply Chains in Developing Economies”. The research was supervised by Professor R. M. Chandima Ratnayake (University of Stavanger, main supervisor) and Professors H. Niles Perera and A. I. T. Gamage (University of Moratuwa, co-supervisors).

Agri-food supply chains in developing economies are crucial for food security and farmer livelihoods but remain fragmented, labour-intensive, and highly vulnerable to disruptions. These traditional supply chains struggle to meet dynamic demand, resulting in waste, price instability, and unequal benefits for smallholder farmers and consumers.

This research explores how digital transformation, guided by policy, can modernise these supply chains, enhance resilience, and strengthen food security. Using the traditional vegetable supply chain in Sri Lanka as a case study, the study applies a practical three-phase framework: problem identification, analysis of current vs. future states, and solution formulation.

Key contributions include:

• Identification of waste drivers and circular economy–based mitigation strategies
• A fuzzy inference system-based risk assessment framework
• A performance measurement framework for data-scarce environments using price volatility, introducing the Agri-Food Volatility Balanced Scorecard
• A conceptual digital governance model for coordination and regulation of supply chains

The findings show that digital transformation, combined with regulatory oversight and evidence-based policy, can reduce waste, stabilise prices, and improve stakeholder coordination.

Ultimately, the research provides actionable insights and policy pathways for transforming traditional agri-food supply chains in developing economies into sustainable, resilient, and digitally enabled systems, safeguarding food security and enhancing smallholder livelihoods.