Asian Research Journal of Current Science

Nigeria’s arable crop economy is dominated by household farms whose commercial prospects are shaped not only by production constraints but also by the costs and risks of moving produce, information and finance through fragmented value chains. This critical narrative review examines how agricultural value chain development can improve market access for small-scale arable crop farmers in Nigeria, with particular attention to rice, maize, cassava and cowpea and to transferable evidence from other annual crop chains. Literature published principally from 2005 to 1 July 2026 was synthesised alongside selected foundational studies and authoritative institutional evidence. The review integrates research on market participation, commercialisation, collective action, midstream enterprises, technology adoption, post-harvest management, digitalisation, finance, gender, infrastructure and climate- and conflict-related shocks.

The evidence indicates that market access is best understood as a coordinated-system outcome rather than proximity to a physical market. Roads, aggregation, storage, reliable buyers, information, working capital, productivity-enhancing technologies and quality management are complementary; isolated interventions often shift rather than remove bottlenecks. Nigerian studies associate greater market participation and commercialisation with improved income or welfare, but causal confidence varies because much of the evidence is observational and geographically concentrated. Stronger quasi-experimental and panel evidence supports benefits from selected technologies and market participation, while recent work shows that extreme heat, insecurity and weak logistics can erode production and sales simultaneously. Midstream actors—including traders, wholesalers, processors and medium-scale farms—frequently provide coordination, information and service functions, challenging policy narratives that treat intermediaries principally as extractive. Yet formalisation, standards, digital tools and structured procurement may exclude farmers lacking assets, documentation, connectivity or bargaining power.

The review argues for a portfolio approach that couples productivity with resilient rural infrastructure, competitive aggregation and off-take arrangements, inclusive finance, post-harvest upgrading, market information, and governance safeguards. Nigeria’s current programme architecture increasingly reflects this logic, but implementation quality, maintenance, competition and distributional accountability will determine whether value-chain investment translates into durable gains for small-scale farmers.