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The major concern of this study is assessing the impact of agricultural credit on gross farm income, consumption level and asset creation of smallholder farmers, by identifying factors affecting credit access and trend of credit use of smallholder farmers. Primary data were collected from 150 farmers, and secondary data from relevant organizations and pertinent documents of North Gondar Zone, Ethiopia. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, binary logit and Cobb-Douglas production function models. Therefore this study has contributed that, agricultural input credit access and proper use helped in income improvement, consumption level and asset creation of smallholder farmer's welfare living and should be diversified to include more income generative technologies and farmers.
Credit constraint is considered by many as one of the key barriers to adoption of modern agricultural technologies, such as chemical fertilizer, improved seeds, and irrigation technologies, among smallholders. Past research and much policy discourse associates agricultural credit constraints with supply-side factors, such as limited access to credit sources or high costs of borrowing. However, demand-side factors, such as risk-aversion and financial illiteracy among borrowers, as well as high transaction costs, can also play important roles in credit-rationing for smallholders. Using primary survey data from Ethiopia and Tanzania, this study examines the nature of credit constraints facing smallholders and the factors that affect credit constraints. In addition, we assess whether credit constraints are gender-differentiated. Results show that demand-side credit constraints are at least as important as supply-side factors in both countries. Women are more likely to be credit constrained (from both the supply and demand sides) than men. Based on these findings, we suggest that policies should focus on addressing both supply- and demand-side credit constraints, including through targeted interventions to reduce risk, such as crop insurance and gender-sensitive policies to improve women’s access to credit.
Author : Peter J. Barry Publisher : American Enterprise Institute Page : 132 pages File Size : 20,79 MB Release : 1995 Category : Business & Economics ISBN : 9780844739052
Examines the nonbudget consequences of the entire set of agricultural programmes and the extent to which general financial regulation affects the farm sector.
The agricultural sector in Nigeria is characterized by low productivity that is driven in part by low use of modern agricultural technologies. Poor access to credit is seen by many observers to be one of the key barriers to adoption of these technologies. Literature suggests that credit constraints impede individuals from investing in productivity enhancing agricultural technologies and, thus, poor farmers are unable to engage in high-return agricultural activities. Much policy discourse and research literature associates agricultural credit constraints with supply-side factors, such as farmers not having access to credit sources or high costs of borrowing, and, thus, recommend that such supply-side constraints be addressed to improve smallholders’ access to credit. However, demand-side factors, such as borrower’s risk-averse behavior, financial illiteracy, collateral requirements, or perceived high transactions costs, can also play important roles in credit-rationing for smallholder farmers.
This study is an exploratory analysis of the impact and accessibility of formal agricultural credit to small-scale farmers, based on data collected from a sample of farmers in two regions of South Africa's Limpopo Province. The main aims of the research were to: -- Determine the impact of credit and its shadow price. -- Investigate the efficiency of the rural financial market. -- Determine the characteristics and factors that influence the accessibility of credit in the small-scale farming sector, as well as the differential access to credit within the sector. The results of the study indicate that productivity differs between borrowers and non-borrowers. The difference of 40% in favour of borrowers is caused both by credit use (21%) and the farmers' inherent characteristics. Thus, credit can increase a randomly selected farmer's output b 21 per cent. The marginal credit return rate is 2.10 at zero loan, implying a 110 per cent shadow price of capital. The hypothesis that non-borrowers are credit constrained is empirically supported. The marginal credit effect at mean loan size is 1.35, indicating that the average loan size is below income-maximising size. This implies that loan-quantity rationing is still prevalent among borrowers, and that it is possible that borrowers may still be liquidity constrained but to a lesser degree than non-borrowers. The estimated shadow-price of credit (35%) exceeds the average interest rate (18%) also suggesting that the rural credit markets in the survey areas are not o9perating in the most efficient manner. It also indicates that the farmers in the study area can afford to pay the prevailing market interest rate. About 29.4% of the farmers sampled for the study had access to formal credit. More than 57% of the credit used by small farmers comes from informal credit. Access to formal credit is also highly skewed, and shows greater ease of access for large farm size than smaller groups. Factors such as area cultivated, family labour, title deed, non-farm income, remittances and pensions (social benefits), awareness of the availability of credit, and repayment records are found to be important variables in predicting accessibility of credit to small scale farmers in the study area. The main findings are: -- Small-scale farmers have limited and differential access to credit: those with holdings approaching commercial size are better-off. -- Rural agricultural financial markets are inefficient. Borrowers and non-borrowers alike are credit constrained. -- Credit is not too expensive to be used profitably: it effects on productivity can improve the welfare of small-scale farmers. In view of these findings, the following policy proposals are suggested. Firstly, the policy of not providing interest rate subsidies for loans is justified. Credit subsidisation, with its unfortunate history, should be avoided. Secondly, there is the need to restructure costly and poorly performing rural financial institutions to effectively and efficiently provide the needed services to its clientele. To ensure rapid credit delivery, it is also imperative that agricultural institutions are encouraged to decentralise their activities. Expansion of banking outlets is one of the most important surge factors affecting financial services. In addition, policy makers should also focus on critical elements of the financial infrastructure, such as the information system and training facilities, which are necessary for the development of the rural financial system in South Africa. Finally, the threshold for entry into the financial market is simply too high for many. Hence, creating a conducive environment in rural areas is one of the areas that will require more attention. Investment in rural infrastructure will also act as catalyst for the establishment of some of the missing institutions that cause market failures in rural financial markets.
This open access book is about understanding the processes involved in the transformation of smallholder rice farming in the Lower Mekong Basin from a low-yielding subsistence activity to one producing the surpluses needed for national self-sufficiency and a high-value export industry. For centuries, farmers in the Basin have regarded rice as “white gold”, reflecting its centrality to their food security and well-being. In the past four decades, rice has also become a commercial crop of great importance to Mekong farmers, augmenting but not replacing its role in securing their subsistence. This book is based on collaborative research to (a) compare the current situation and trajectories of rice farmers within and between different regions of the Lower Mekong, (b) explore the value chains linking rice farmers with new technologies and input and output markets within and across national borders, and (c) understand the changing role of government policies in facilitating the on-going evolution of commercial rice farming. An introductory section places the research in geographical and historical context. Four major sections deal in turn with studies of rice farming, value chains, and policies in Northeast Thailand, Central Laos, Southeastern Cambodia, and the Mekong Delta. The final section examines the implications for rice policy in the region as a whole.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Small Business. Subcommittee on Small Business: Family Farm
Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Small Business. Subcommittee on Small Business: Family Farm Publisher : Page : 230 pages File Size : 32,99 MB Release : 1985 Category : Agricultural credit ISBN :
This open access book discusses the current role of smallholders in connection with food security and poverty reduction in developing countries. It addresses the opportunities they enjoy, and the constraints they face, by analysing the availability, access to and utilization of production factors. Due to the relevance of smallholder farms, enhancing their production capacities and economic and social resilience could produce positive impacts on food security and nutrition at a number of levels. In addition to the role of small farmers as food suppliers, the book considers their role as consumers and their level of nutrition security. It investigates the link between agriculture and nutrition in order to better understand how agriculture affects human health and dietary patterns. Given the importance of smallholdings, strategies to increase their productivity are essential to improving food and nutrition security, as well as food diversity.
It has been reported in various studies that micro finance has very beneficial economic and social impacts. Others argue that it can be an instrument of defaults and stagnation rather than an instrument of progress. Therefore, the major concern of this study is to measure the impact of credit use on the farm income and the living standard of the small farmers, to identify the factors affecting credit use, and to investigate the pattern of credit use by smallholder farmers. Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and percentages were used for analysing the data. Moreover, inferential statistics of t-test and 2 - test were employed to compare credit users and non-users with respect to the hypothesized and other related variables. A binary logit model is employed to examine factors affecting agricultural credit use. In this regard, a total of twelve explanatory variables were included in the empirical model of which five were significant, while Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method is employed to measure the impact of credit on the farm income of smallholders.