Beyond the Farm Gate: Evidence and a Multistakeholder Framework for Reducing Postharvest Losses in Nigeria's Perishable Value Chains

Abstract

Postharvest loss (PHL) remains a major constraint on food security, livelihoods, and the efficiency of Nigeria's perishable food systems. Although farm-level and storage losses have received substantial attention, losses during aggregation, transportation, wholesale distribution, and retailing remain unevenly documented despite their importance for highly perishable commodities. This narrative evidence synthesis examines Nigeria's tomato, leafy vegetable, plantain/banana, and fish value chains using peer-reviewed research and selected authoritative institutional evidence from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). It evaluates where losses occur, why they occur, which interventions have demonstrated or emerging potential, and how future assessments can better integrate stakeholder perspectives. Across the evidence, handling, transport, and market-stage storage repeatedly emerge as important loss points, but reported magnitudes vary substantially with commodity, location, season, actor, and measurement method. Recurring constraints include weak cold chain coverage, poor transport infrastructure, unsuitable packaging, limited market information, restricted finance, and fragmented coordination. Recent Nigerian evidence strengthens the intervention case: reusable plastic crates are associated with lower tomato losses and higher adoption among long-distance marketers, off-grid solar cold storage preserves quality better than ambient storage under experimental conditions, and randomized evidence indicates that temperature-controlled transport can improve marketers' prices, revenues, and profits. However, systematic reviews show that the wider PHL evidence base remains disproportionately technology and farmer focused, with comparatively limited attention to traders, transporters, gender, labour, finance, policy, and environmental outcomes. The article therefore proposes a multistakeholder assessment framework that combines node-specific measurement of physical, quality, nutritional, and economic losses with analysis of infrastructure, incentives, gender, market coordination, and intervention feasibility. This systems approach can provide a stronger basis for locally appropriate and scalable PHL reduction in Nigeria.