Purpose
PICS bags are hermetic crop storage bags that are designed to reduce post-harvest losses, improve the quality of stored crops, and increase the viable storage period. PICS bags were launched in East Africa in 2013. The design, manufacture and distribution of PICS bags were a part of efforts by development players to reduce post-harvest loss and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2018, Pee Pee Tanzania Limited (PPTL) became the lead distributor of PICS bags in Tanzania. In 2020, AgDevCo invested in PPTL, with the aim of scaling up the manufacturing and distribution of PICS bags across Tanzania.
To strengthen evidence on the benefits of the bags, AgDevCo contracted EDI Global to implement an impact evaluation to understand the effect of PICS bags on the post-harvest outcomes of smallholder maize and beans farmers in Tanzania.
Action
EDI Global led the impact evaluation, from inception to evidence dissemination. The impact evaluation explored two key research questions:
- What is the impact of PICS bags, sold by PPTL, on small-scale farmer customers in Tanzania?
- How can PPTL increase the volume of their sales of PICS bags to small-scale farmers in Tanzania?
EDI Global employed a quasi-experimental research method in the evaluation: specifically, it used the difference-in-differences method to determine the treatment effect. The evaluation method compared farmers who used PICS bags for the first time in 2021 with those who do not use PICS bags. As part of the evaluation, EDI Global also collected data from those who had used PICS bags for a while, and former PICS bag users, for comparison.
To establish a sample, EDI Global contacted farmers who had responded to a radio advert and expressed an interest in purchasing PICS bags. Out of a total 11,000 farmers who responded to the advert, 5,000 were randomly contacted. Based on the eligibility criteria, respondents were assigned to treatment, control and comparison groups. The final sample was drawn to ensure it was representative of PPTL’s 2020 customer base and covered all 26 mainland regions of Tanzania.
Data were collected across two phone survey rounds: baseline (June 2021) and endline (May 2022). The survey covered 1,002 smallholder farmers at baseline, with 772 farmers forming the panel sample and completing both baseline and endline surveys. The survey included modules on farmer eligibility, individual characteristics, post-harvest outcomes (storage, post-harvest losses, sales, consumption, revenue, food insecurity) and experiences with PICS bags.
Impact
EDI Global successfully gathered evidence on several key results, including the following:
- treatment farmers stored maize for longer periods than control farmers;
- treatment farmers experienced fewer episodes of food insecurity compared to control farmers; and
- maize stored in PICS bags did not yield a more favourable price compared to maize stored in alternative storage units.
EDI Global provided AgDevCo and PPTL with baseline and endline analysis reports, as well as conducting dissemination workshops to present the findings to key stakeholders. In addition, EDI Global offered commercial advice to PPTL on improving the product and growing its business. The study findings were used by PPTL to support its business strategy for 2022–2023.
