Optimization of distribution planning for agricultural products in logistics based on degree of maturity

Abstract During transportation, approximately hundreds of millions of agricultural products are lost in China every year. Strict time requirements must be incorporated during distribution planning to ensure delivery for safe, fresh, and high-quality agricultural products to customers. The special time is directly influenced by the maturity of agricultural products. The study established a maturity model of soluble solids for agricultural products based on ethephon concentration, temperature and storage time. The distribution model has been structured based on the ant colony algorithm to ensure agricultural product arrival at required time. The results showed that the maturity model largely depended on temperature and storage time instead of ethephon concentration. The correlation coefficient of the model R 2 was 0.939, which proved the maturity model could predict the maturity degree accurately. Then bananas were delivered in the hands of customers at the required maturity through the distribution model effectively. The method is an effective way to optimize distribution lines for reducing logistics loss.