Analysis of the factors influencing the stability of stored grains: Implications for agricultural sustainability and food security

The recent unprecedented situations like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have severely impacted food security and grain production in emerging economies. These countries can try to import grains to enhance secure food security, but this will strain their dollar reserve and endanger their financial stability. Under such circumstances, the adoption of sustainable grain storage practices is essential to reducing the unusual gap between grain production and grain availability. This research, therefore, explores the key factors that may affect the stability of stored grains to promote agricultural sustainability and food security in emerging economies. First, the study identifies the significant factors that influence the stability of stored grains from an emerging economy perspective. Then, the study employs an integrated approach consisting of Pareto analysis, fuzzy-based Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM), and Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis. Based on the literature review and expert feedback, nineteen factors were initially identified. After employing Pareto analysis, the top thirteen factors have been further analyzed using fuzzy TISM- fuzzy MICMAC to examine their interrelationships. The study findings indicate that "Proper training on advanced storage operations" is the most significant factor influencing sustainable grain storage operations. The study insights can help practitioners to focus more on the crucial aspects of the grain storage operation and can assist the policymakers and industry leaders of emerging economies in strategic decision-making to achieve agricultural sustainability and thus improve food security.