Credit constraints and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Nigeria


Book Description

The agricultural sector in Nigeria is characterized by low productivity that is driven by low use of modern agricultural technologies, such as improved seed, chemical fertilizer, agrochemicals, and agricultural machinery. Poor access to credit is claimed to be one of the key barriers to adoption of these technologies. This study examines the nature of credit constraints among smallholder farmers – whether smallholders are credit constrained or not and the extent to which credit constraints emanate from supply-side or demand-side factors. Using multinomial probit and seeming unrelated simultaneous equations econometric models with data from the 2018/19 Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) for Nigeria, the study investigates the factors affecting credit access and the effects of these credit constraints on adoption of four agricultural technologies – inorganic fertilizer, improved seed, agrochemicals, and mechanization. The results show that about 27 percent of survey households were found to be credit constrained – 12.8 percent due to supply-side factors and 14.2 percent due to demand-side factors. Lack of access to information and communication technology, extension services, and insurance coverage are the major demand-side factors negatively affecting smallholder’s access to credit. Registered land tiles and livestock ownership enhance credit access. Credit constraints manifests themselves differentially on the adoption of different agricultural technologies. While adoption of inorganic fertilizer and improved seed are significantly affected by credit constraints from both the supply and the demand-sides; use of agricultural machinery is affected only by demand-side factors, while use of agrochemicals is not affected from either supply or demand-side credit factors. From a policy perspective, our findings indicate that improving credit access via supply-side interventions alone may not necessarily boost use of modern agricultural technologies by smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Demand-side factors, such as access to information, extension services, and insurance cover, should equally be addressed to mitigate the credit constraints faced by smallholders and increase their adoption of modern agricultural technologies and improve their productivity.




Determining Factors and Impacts of Modern Agricultural Technology Adoption in West Wollega


Book Description

Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Agrarian Studies, Wollega University (School of graduate studies), language: English, abstract: This study analyzed factors affecting modern agricultural technology adoption by farmers and the impact of technology adoption decision on the welfare of households in the study area. The data used for the study were obtained from 145 randomly selected sample households in the study area. Binary logit model was employed to analyze the determinants of farmers’ decisions to adopt modern technologies. Moreover, the average effect of adoption on household incomes and expenditure were estimated by using propensity score matching method. The result of the logistic regression showed that household heads’ education level, farm size, credit accessibility, perception of farmers about cost of the inputs and off-farm income positively and significantly affected the farm households’ adoption decision; while family size affected their decision negatively and significantly. The result of the propensity score matching estimation showed that the average income and consumption expenditure of adopters are greater than that of non-adopters. Based on these findings it is recommended that the zonal and the woreda leaders extension agents farm and education experts, policy makers and other development oriented organizations have to plan in such a way that the farm households in the study area will obtain sufficient education, credit accessibilities and also have to train farmers to make them understand the benefits obtained from adopting the new technologies. These bodies have also to arrange policy issues that improve farm labour participation of household members and also to arrange the ways in which farmers obtain means of income outside farming activities.




Publicly Funded Agricultural Research and the Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture


Book Description

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requested that the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council (NRC) convene a panel of experts to examine whether publicly funded agricultural research has influenced the structure of U.S. agriculture and, if so, how. The Committee to Review the Role of Publicly Funded Agricultural Research on the Structure of U.S. Agriculture was asked to assess the role of public-sector agricultural research on changes in the size and numbers of farms, with particular emphasis on the evolution of very-large-scale operations.




Institutional versus noninstitutional credit to agricultural households in India: Evidence on impact from a national farmers’ survey


Book Description

A goal of agricultural policy in India has been to reduce farmers’ dependence on informal credit. To that end, recent initiatives have been focused explicitly on rural areas and have had a positive impact on the flow of agricultural credit. But despite the significance of these initiatives in enhancing the flow of institutional credit to agriculture, the links between institutional credit and net farm income and consumption expenditures in India are not very well documented. Using a large national farm household–level dataset and instrumental variables two-stage least squares estimation methods, we investigate the impact of institutional farm credit on farm income and farm household consumption expenditures. Our findings show that in India, formal credit is indeed playing a critical role in increasing both the net farm income and per capita monthly household expenditures of Indian farm families. We also find that, in the presence of formal credit, social safety net programs such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) may have unintended consequences. In particular, MGNREGA reduces both net farm income and per capita monthly household consumption expenditures. In contrast, in the presence of formal credit, the Public Distribution System may increase both net farm income and per capita monthly household consumption expenditures.




India's Green Revolution


Book Description

The success of the agricultural policy adopted in 1965 has given India the hope of escaping from its circle of poverty. At the same time the increased rate of economic development seems to have exacerbated social tensions and accentuated disparities that may eventually undermine the foundations of rural political stability. Originally published in 1971. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.




Farmer Behaviour, Agricultural Management and Climate Change


Book Description

This study examines the broad range of factors driving farm management decisions that can improve the environment, including drawing on the experiences of OECD countries.







Agricultural Technologies and Tropical Deforestation


Book Description

This book has been developed from a workshop on Technological change in agriculture and tropical deforestation organised by the Center for International Forestry Research and held in Costa Rica in March, 1999. It explores how intensification of agriculture affects tropical deforestation using case studies from different geographical regions, using different agricultural products and technologies and in differing demographic situations and market conditions. Guidance is also given on future agricultural research and extension efforts.




Are smallholder farmers credit constrained? Evidence on demand and supply constraints of credit in Ethiopia and Tanzania


Book Description

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.