Supply Chain Analytics for Controlling Avian Flu Epidemics in Korean Agriculture: A Preliminary Study

With the re-emergence of highly contagious Avian Flu disease (AFD) in Korea, the Korean government has increased their efforts to prevent the outbreaks of AFD epidemics throughout Korea and neighboring countries. Such efforts... [ view full abstract ]

With the re-emergence of highly contagious Avian Flu disease (AFD) in Korea, the Korean government has increased their efforts to prevent the outbreaks of AFD epidemics throughout Korea and neighboring countries. Such efforts include the mass culling (slaughter) of infected birds or all at risk animals, large-scale vaccination, chicken/duck trade bans, and extensive quarantines. Despite such efforts, AFD epidemics in Korea show little sign of abatement. One of the biggest challenges for coping with AFD epidemics is in tracing back the sources of AFD epidemics and identifying poultry farms vulnerable to next hits due to a complexity of the agricultural supply chain in Korea. This paper uncovers the labyrinths of a Korean agricultural supply chain by developing a comprehensive supply chain map and an intelligent decision support system (IDSS), which is built upon a variety of business analytics tools including a mixed integer program and statistical techniques.