Do Quality Practices Pay? Evidence from Post-Harvest Quality Adoption among Black Pepper Farmers in Matale District, Sri Lanka

Adoption of post-harvest quality improvement practices is critical for farmers to meet high-value market standards. However, evidence on their impact on producing graded, high-quality output and subsequent income remains limited, beyond studies showing that these practices can improve quality, reduce losses, or enhance income. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the impact of post-harvest technology adoption on the production of graded dry black pepper, subsequent income, and total income among black pepper farmers in the Matale District of Sri Lanka. The analysis used primary data from 810 farmers collected through a structured household survey. The main analysis focuses on a sample of 248 farmers to ensure clear group differentiation (84 high adopters and 164 low adopters), while robustness checks include 562 medium adopters. Propensity score matching is employed to address self-selection bias. The results show that adoption significantly increases total black pepper income by 0.19–0.21 million LKR/ha and graded dry black pepper income by 0.24–0.27 million LKR/ha. In addition, adoption leads to a significant increase in graded dry black pepper production by 132–144 kg, highlighting that quality upgrading drives economic gains. These findings suggest that promoting the adoption of post-harvest quality practices can enhance farmers' earnings and facilitate access to high-value markets.