Integrating agriculture and industry 4.0 under "agri-food 4.0" to analyze suitable technologies to overcome agronomical barriers

Purpose The main intention of this paper is to analyze various factors hindering the growth of the agricultural supply chain and several industry 4.0 technologies to eliminate the same. In addition to a detailed assessment on the implementation of these technologies in agriculture, this manuscript also presents a priority list providing a rank to them based on the relative efficiency of these advancements in addressing these obstacles. Design/methodology/approach This research proceeds with a two-step process. The particular barriers in the agriculture supply chain and industry 4.0 technologies are determined in the first step. Next, the proposed framework, a combination of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), i.e. DEA-AHP, is used to determine a hierarchical structure for the factors and the relative productive efficiencies of the alternatives. The DEA methodology gives a performance analysis of various decision-making units. At the same time, AHP helps in evaluating alternatives weights based on numerous criteria, allowing us to categorize their importance further. Findings This study reveals how the involvement of technological advancements in agriculture can help manage the supply chain more efficiently. It also justifies how the large quantities of data generated can handle these increasing challenges in the agricultural supply chain. Practical implications The results of this study provide a priority list of alternatives based on their final weights. This ranking system can help farmers and the government select the best-suited technology for bringing automation into the agricultural supply chain. Originality/value This research is unique as it analyes the general factors hindering the development of the agriculture supply chain while simultaneously providing a list of alternatives based on their relative efficiencies. The study enriches existing literature by providing an analytic approach to determine the weightage of various critical success factors that can help improvise and entrust the real and undeniable requirements of consumers, suppliers and producers.