Management of saffron distribution network in Torbat Heydariyeh City

One of the important factors that prevent the achievement of agricultural development goals and increase the production and income of farmers in developing countries is the inefficiency of the agricultural distribution system. Saffron as one of the most important products of the country is affected by this inefficiency. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to design the optimal method of saffron distribution using the multi-choice goal programing model. In order to achieve this goal, the required statistics and information were completed by completing 352 questionnaires in the producers section, 40 questionnaires in the wholesalers section and 150 questionnaires in the retails section by random sampling method available for Torbat Heydariyeh city (as one of the most important production centers of this product) was collected. The results of model optimization showed that 64% of the farmers under study transfer less than 10 kg of saffron to the warehouse. 32% of farmers transferred between 10 - 50 kg and only 4% of them transferred more than 50 kg of saffron to a warehouse. 62% of wholesalers received less than 100 kg of saffron and the remaining 38% received more than 100 kg of saffron from the warehouse. Also, 20% of wholesalers transferred less than 20 kg of saffron, 52% of them transferred between 20 - 40 kg of saffron and 28% of them more than 40 kg of saffron transferred to retailers. According to the optimal output of the model, the average rate of saffron transfer from retailers to Kadkan, Jolgeh Rokh, Baig and central part of Torbat Heydariyeh is equal to 0.88, 0.34, 0.87 and 32.76 kg, respectively. Also, the results of model optimization with three distribution channels showed that distribution channel No. 2 (farmer-retailer-consumer) was selected as the optimal channel with the lowest cost.