Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Food Security Group

Introduction

Motivation

Agri-food value chains have grown rapidly in recent decades, a transformation fueled by the aggregate investment of many micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the midstream and downstream of these value chains, comprising the wholesale, logistics, processing, and retail segments. These MSMEs are instrumental in Nigeria’s food supply, together determining the availability, affordability, and safety of nutritious foods like fish and vegetables. At the same time, they face significant challenges that can impede their operations, growth, and productivity. Furthermore, limited attention in research and policy has been paid to MSMEs in the midstream and downstream segments of value chains. The RSM2SNF project aims to fill this gap by working with MSMEs along the value chains for fish, tomatoes, and green leafy vegetables to understand the structure, conduct, and performance of these value chains and ultimately to support MSMEs to provide affordable, safe, and nutritious foods.

Objectives

We conducted a “lay of the land” or rapid reconnaissance study for the tomato and green leafy vegetable (GLV) value chains in Ebonyi State. Our objectives were:

1. to understand the structure of the value chain and how actors at different nodes are related to one another;
2. to understand what stakeholders perceive to be the key challenges and opportunities in the vegetable subsector;
3. to understand how patterns vary according to the scale of the enterprise; and
4. to develop insights that will inform the design of a micro-level survey instrument for a “stacked survey” of the vegetable value chain.