Improved Post-Harvest Technology: What Impact on Nigeria s Smallholder Cassava Starch Processors Welfare?

This study examined the adoption of improved post-harvest technology for cassava processing and its impacts on welfare of Smallholder cassava starch processors. The study relied mainly on cross-sectional data collected through a survey conducted in the forest and guinea savanna zones of Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting a sample frame of five hundred and seventy (570) cassava starch processors. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, logit model and the propensity score matching method. Smallholder cassava starch processing in Nigeria is mostly a female enterprise. The average age of the processors was 48 years, with an average household size of six. The decision to use improved technology is explained by number of income earners in the household, years of processing experience, cost of acquiring technology and the capacity of technology. This study found a positive and significant impact of improved post-harvest technology on output and income of smallholder cassava starch processors. Therefore, designing mechanisms to help promote use of improved technology among small-scale processors by developing affordable technologies appears to be a rational policy instrument to improve cassava starch processors welfare. Key words: cassava processing, improved technologies, output, income, Nigeria JEL: C21, D13, O33, Q12 Acknowledgement : Acknowledgments The study is an output of the Cassava Web Project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft f r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The Research Fellowship offered by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria to the first author is gratefully acknowledged. The research is supported by CGIAR Program on Humidtropics and the Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB)