Optimization of food grain movement for the public distribution system: Case of a hilly region

The Public Distribution System in India plays a crucial role in achieving food security and reaching Sustainable Development Goal 2, which aims to ensure zero hunger. However, over the years, the establishment of storage warehouses and Fair Price Shops for the Public Distribution System has often occurred without a systematic approach, imposing substantial financial burdens. This paper aims to enhance Public Distribution System operations, enabling more strategic and tactical logistics decisions. The research unfolds through the development of an optimization approach, which involves data collection, the design of a mathematical model using mixed-integer linear programming, and the implementation of the plan in the field. The model determines the optimal tags and corresponding quantities of food commodities for transportation while identifying the most efficient clusters for storage facilities. Here, tags represent the optimal assignment of warehouses to Fair Price Shops, whereas clusters refer to geographically optimized groupings of storage facilities and Fair Price Shops. Nagaland, one of the states in India, has implemented the proposed methodology, achieving a remarkable reduction in the average road distance. Furthermore, the redesign of the current supply chain has led to the development of novel distribution strategies, improving implementation reliability. The findings of this research contribute to reducing transportation distances, minimizing transportation costs, and conserving fuel, aligning with sustainable development objectives to mitigate environmental impact. This research provides a framework for systematic, data-driven improvement in the Public Distribution System, with potential scalability to address food security more sustainably across different regions.