A review on use of big data in warehousing to enhance accessibility of food

Abstract

India is the second most populous country in the world. With its ever-increasing population and the land size shrinking, food security poses one of the biggest threats. The economic growth has been tremendous over the past few years but, the country still struggles with widespread poverty and hunger. India ranks 129th on the Global Hunger Index (2015), released by IFPRI. Despite being a major agriculture player, India is home to 25% of the world's hungry population. The four parameters for analyzing Food Security are-Availability, Accessibility, Stability and Utility. Currently, the farmers are unawares about the demand and therefore, do not know how much to produce. If these questions are answered, millions could be unshackled from the deadly chains of hunger and malnutrition. The aim of this paper is to review how usage of big data in warehousing will enhance the accessibility of food. If the farmers are given a first-hand, timely and reliable information through information communication technology tools (ICT), a major chunk of the problem can be solved. Data on demand will enable efficient warehousing, a resilient and adaptable supply chain, and overall, help in paving the way for a better market integration. Big data analysis will provide the information in a usable form on how much to produce, store and distribute. Use of big data in warehousing will come to play and help in improving the accessibility of food aided by a zero-defect resilient supply chain. This paper will analyze the lacunas in data accessibility which render the efficacy of adequate supply of food. Keywords Big Data, Warehousing, Agriculture, Production, Sociology, Statistics, Security