Resilience in agri-food supply chains: a framework for risk assessment and strategy development

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical importance of resilience in the agri-food supply chain (AFSC) to ensure a reliable, uninterrupted, and disruption-free food supply for the ever-increasing global population. This study aims to comprehensively rank the multitude of risks faced by the AFSC, which have predominantly been examined in isolation. It develops a strategic framework for mitigating these risks by implementing appropriate resilient strategies. The study employs novel hybrid multi-criteria decision-making techniques, including the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (F-AHP), fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (F-TOPSIS), and fuzzy quality function deployment (F-QFD), to prioritise risks, assign weights, and rank various resilient strategies. The study contributes to the existing literature by proposing a systematic and robust strategic framework to facilitate decision-making processes in AFSC resilience management. It advances theoretical understanding and provides practical insights and recommendations for enhancing resilience in AFSC management.