Agricultural Credit Access by Grain Growers in Uasin-Gishu County, Kenya.

Abstract

Generally in Kenya, lack of finances is one of the critical problems hindering growth, production, productivity and generation of income of farm income. Indeed inaccessibility to agricultural credit by grain growers in Uasin-Gishu County, has contributed to the low and declining use of farm inputs resulting in a fall in agricultural productivity leading to low outputs and depressed farmers income. The study examined factors influencing accessibility to agricultural credit. The study was conducted in Uasin-Gishu County, Kenya, using a survey design. The research examined 130 grain farmers, interviewed 1 K-Rep officer and 2 officers from Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC). Interviews, structured questionnaires, observation and document analysis, were used to collect quantitative data from the sampled households. Descriptive and binary logit model were used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. The results revealed that 47 (36.8 per cent) of the sampled grain farmers accessed agricultural credit, whereas the remaining 83 (63.8 per cent) did not access credit. It was also found that agricultural credit access by female farmers is still very limited. Generally, farmers’ age, education level, family size, household size, repayment period and applied loan were highly important in influencing access to agricultural credit. Therefore, a policy be adopted where extension officers from the ministry of Agriculture do an exhaustive database on socio-economic status of all grain farmers in the County.