The collection of tendupatta leaf is a massive operation involving around 2.5 million families, who depend on this activity for their livelihood. Key decisions, which affect the livelihood of these poor families, are not only based on local political considerations but are managed in an inefficient manner, as a result of which, only 30% of the potential produce is collected. These types of geographically dispersed logistic activities which involve huge resources and affect large numbers of people are ideal candidates for OR applications. We have modelled the above problem using facility location and vehicle-routing models. This OR-based methodology can help the decision maker to raise leaf output substantially under existing budget limitations.
