Identifying an Efficient Shortest Path Algorithm: Multi-Destinations in Transporting Oranges

Despite the steady growth in orange production in Nigeria over the years, postharvest losses remain a persistent challenge that significantly undermines the quantity and quality of fruits reaching end consumers. These losses occur during transit and are largely attributed to poor transportation infrastructure, inefficient logistics, and lack of effective postharvest handling practices. The current road networks and distribution systems are unable to support the seamless movement of orange fruits from farms to urban markets, resulting in mechanical damage, spoilage, and reduced market value. Furthermore, the marketing chain is dominated by intermediaries, often leaving farmers with limited returns. Existing transport systems do not provide optimized routing solutions to mitigate these issues. As such, there is a pressing need to develop an efficient, data-driven transportation model such as one based on the Dynamic Programming Algorithm that can identify the multiple shortest and most effective routes, minimize postharvest losses, and improve the overall efficiency of orange distribution in Nigeria from major production centers, Gboko, Buruku, Ushongo, Konshisha, and Vandeikya to major consumption markets: Abeokuta, Lagos and Portharcourt and to Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, and Maiduguri. In this research work, the model of the orange transportation road network system was developed from the map of Nigeria and the application of the Dynamic Programming algorithm to determine the most efficient transportation paths was applied to obtain the optimal routes in transporting oranges from multiple sources to multiple destinations to minimize postharvest losses of oranges. TORA software was utilized for computational analysis and graphical representation, producing color-coded graphs highlighting optimal paths from multiple sources to multiple destinations. The findings revealed a robust road network and showed the most efficient routes for transporting oranges from major production centers, Gboko, Buruku, Ushongo, Konshisha, and Vandeikya to major consumption markets: Abeokuta, Lagos and Portharcourt and to Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, and Maiduguri, resulting in improved and efficient delivery, reduced costs, and, most importantly, a significant reduction in post-harvest losses.