The impact of SME support services on the adoption of postharvest innovation and farmers’ welfare: experimental evidence from Nigeria

Limited access to appropriate post-harvest technologies (PHT) is among the main reasons for both food and income losses at various levels of the fruit and vegetable value-chains across sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), have become increasingly important to address the post-harvest limitations, by developing service-based innovations along these value-chains. Using data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT), carried out in one of the major tomato-producing areas of northern Nigeria, the study analyzes the impacts of providing post-harvest handling technology alone and PHT combined with market support delivered by a private sector-led social enterprise, on PHT adoption, production choices and market participation. The results show that access to PHT alone does not significantly increase adoption. In contrast, access to PHT bundled with market support leads to consistently higher adoption across production systems and value-chain stages. We also find positive, though statistically insignificant, effects on tomato yields, alongside a statistically significant increase in the use of hybrid seed. In addition, the bundled intervention substantially increases farmers’ participation in long-distance markets: farmers offered PHT with market support are 7.6 percentage points more likely to sell into distant markets. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of embedding postharvest technologies within market-oriented service models, rather than promoting stand-alone technology distribution, to stimulate farmer upgrading and value-chain transformation.