IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v10y2026i3p7014-7033.html

Digital Connectivity and Agricultural Supply Chain Resilience: Empirical Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in Post-Conflict Liberia

Author

Listed:
  • Monica D. Jones

    (College of Economics, Sichuan Agriculture University (SAU))

  • Melissa Hawa Isabel Sackie

    (College of Economics, Sichuan Agriculture University (SAU))

  • Christophe A. Lavall, Jr

    (School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (SMEE), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC))

  • Ezekie Z. Ziah

    (School of Public Administration (SPA) , University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC))

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between digital connectivity and agricultural supply chain resilience among smallholder farmers across all 15 counties in post-conflict Liberia. Adopting a cross-sectional quantitative design, the research uses seven validated secondary datasets from 2016 to 2022 to analyze the impacts of ICT access, digital literacy, and gender equity on core supply chain outcomes, including post-harvest losses, farm-gate prices, transport costs, and formal market participation. Four novel composite key performance indicators, the ICT-SCM Performance Index, Digital Supply Chain Readiness Score, Supply Chain Vulnerability Index, and Market Integration Score, are developed to enable standardized and replicable resilience measurement in data-scarce post-conflict contexts. Empirical results demonstrate strong positive associations between digital connectivity and supply chain resilience: a one-unit increase in the ICT Development Index reduces post-harvest losses by 6.2 percentage points, while digital literacy significantly improves farm-gate prices and market integration. Gender gaps in digital access moderate the ICT–resilience relationship, weakening the conversion of digital resources into supply chain benefits. Spatial analysis reveals significant clustering of vulnerability and digital readiness, with Montserrado County outperforming all regions and southeastern counties trapped in overlapping deficits of digital access, infrastructure, and income. Findings confirm that ICT effectiveness depends on complementary road infrastructure and household resources. This study addresses critical empirical gaps in fragile-state agricultural digitalization research and provides evidence to support gender-responsive, spatially targeted policy interventions for Liberia’s National Digital Strategy and agricultural resilience programs, offering a transferable framework for other post-conflict economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Monica D. Jones & Melissa Hawa Isabel Sackie & Christophe A. Lavall, Jr & Ezekie Z. Ziah, 2026. "Digital Connectivity and Agricultural Supply Chain Resilience: Empirical Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in Post-Conflict Liberia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 10(3), pages 7014-7033, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:10:y:2026:i:3:p:7014-7033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/uploads/vol10-iss3-pg7014-7033-202604_pdf.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/view/digital-connectivity-and-agricultural-supply-chain-resilience-empirical-evidence-from-smallholder-farmers-in-post-conflict-liberia/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kamalahmadi, Masoud & Parast, Mahour Mellat, 2016. "A review of the literature on the principles of enterprise and supply chain resilience: Major findings and directions for future research," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(P1), pages 116-133.
    2. Afonso, António & Blanco-Arana, M. Carmen, 2024. "Does financial inclusion enhance per capita income in the least developed countries?," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Eduardo Nakasone & Maximo Torero & Bart Minten, 2014. "The Power of Information: The ICT Revolution in Agricultural Development," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 533-550, October.
    4. Rutherford, Diana Duff & Burke, Holly M. & Cheung, Kelly K. & Field, Samuel H., 2016. "Impact of an Agricultural Value Chain Project on Smallholder Farmers, Households, and Children in Liberia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 70-83.
    5. Minten, Bart & Barrett, Christopher B., 2008. "Agricultural Technology, Productivity, and Poverty in Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 797-822, May.
    6. Jenny C. Aker & Isaac M. Mbiti, 2010. "Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 207-232, Summer.
    7. Fackler, Paul L. & Goodwin, Barry K., 2001. "Spatial price analysis," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 971-1024, Elsevier.
    8. Jean Balié & Davide Del Prete & Emiliano Magrini & Pierluigi Montalbano & Silvia Nenci, 2019. "Does Trade Policy Impact Food and Agriculture Global Value Chain Participation of Sub-Saharan African Countries?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(3), pages 773-789.
    9. Benjamin R. Tukamuhabwa & Mark Stevenson & Jerry Busby & Marta Zorzini, 2015. "Supply chain resilience: definition, review and theoretical foundations for further study," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(18), pages 5592-5623, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arimoto, Yutaka & Kono, Hisaki & Ralandison, Tsilavo & Sakurai, Takeshi & Takahashi, Kazushi, 2015. "Understanding traders' regional arbitage : the case of rice traders in Antananarivo, Madagascar," IDE Discussion Papers 505, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    2. Bo Li, 2024. "A dynamic model of the supply chain resilience cycle: concept mapping using the Cynefin framework," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1553-1562, December.
    3. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Sanzidur Rahman & Essiagnon John-Philippe Alavo & Xu Tian, 2019. "Agricultural Informatization and Technical Efficiency in Maize Production in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Zhao, Nanyang & Hong, Jiangtao & Lau, Kwok Hung, 2023. "Impact of supply chain digitalization on supply chain resilience and performance: A multi-mediation model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    5. Qiansong Zhang & Yingying Zhang & Taiwen Feng, 2024. "Impacts of paradox cognition and organizational unlearning on supply chain resilience: a perspective of paradox theory," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1022-1038, September.
    6. Eswaran, Mukesh, 2018. "Can For-Profit Business Alleviate Extreme Poverty in Developing Countries?," Microeconomics.ca working papers tina_marandola-2018-6, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 06 Jun 2018.
    7. Bygballe, Lena E. & Dubois, Anna & Jahre, Marianne, 2023. "The importance of resource interaction in strategies for managing supply chain disruptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Wong, Christina W.Y. & Lirn, Taih-Cherng & Yang, Ching-Chiao & Shang, Kuo-Chung, 2020. "Supply chain and external conditions under which supply chain resilience pays: An organizational information processing theorization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    9. Jie Zhao & Ji Yun Lee & Dane Camenzind & Michael Wolcott & Kristin Lewis & Olivia Gillham, 2023. "Multi-Component Resilience Assessment Framework for a Supply Chain System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-25, April.
    10. Abate, Gashaw T. & Abay, Kibrom A. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Kassim, Yumna & Spielman, David J. & Paul Jr Tabe-Ojong, Martin, 2023. "Digital tools and agricultural market transformation in Africa: Why are they not at scale yet, and what will it take to get there?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    11. Sekabira, Haruna & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can mobile phones improve gender equality and nutrition? Panel data evidence from farm households in Uganda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 95-103.
    12. Hongyu Wang & Xiaolei Wang & Apurbo Sarkar & Lu Qian, 2021. "Evaluating the Impacts of Smallholder Farmer’s Participation in Modern Agricultural Value Chain Tactics for Facilitating Poverty Alleviation—A Case Study of Kiwifruit Industry in Shaanxi, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, May.
    13. Anirban Ganguly & John V. Farr, 2024. "An Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) Approach to Evaluate Barriers to Resiliency in Indian Pharmaceutical Supply Chains," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 12(4), pages 599-616, October.
    14. Parlasca, Martin C. & Mußhoff, Oliver & Qaim, Matin, "undated". "How mobile phones can improve nutrition among pastoral communities: Panel data evidence from Northern Kenya," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 274651, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    15. Barbara Ocicka & Wioletta Mierzejewska & Jakub Brzeziński, 2022. "Creating supply chain resilience during and post-COVID-19 outbreak: the organizational ambidexterity perspective," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 49(1), pages 129-151, March.
    16. Hart Nibbrig, Maurice & Sharif Azadeh, Shadi & Maknoon, M.Y., 2025. "Adaptive resilience strategies for supply chain networks against disruptions," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    17. Ruiz-Benítez, Rocío & López, Cristina & Real, Juan C., 2018. "The lean and resilient management of the supply chain and its impact on performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 190-202.
    18. Jianlan Zhong & Han Cheng & Fu Jia, 2024. "Supply chain resilience capability factors in agri-food supply chains," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 850-868, September.
    19. Martin C. Parlasca & Oliver Mußhoff & Matin Qaim, 2020. "Can mobile phones improve nutrition among pastoral communities? Panel data evidence from Northern Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 475-488, May.
    20. Apoorv Gupta & Jacopo Ponticelli & Andrea Tesei, 2020. "Language Barriers, Technology Adoption and Productivity: Evidence from Agriculture in India," NBER Working Papers 27192, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:10:y:2026:i:3:p:7014-7033. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.