Credit, gender, and food security: Empirical evidence of determinants to access, affordability, and consumption in Cameroon

Abstract

AbstractDespite receiving considerable attention, food insecurity remains a salient issue, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. Among other factors, limited access to credit is one of the direct drivers of food insecurity. Hence, interventions such as credit, which improve household income, may be important in improving food security. While previous studies have evaluated the effects of credit on food security, the evidence is mixed. Moreover, neither the effect of the amount of credit nor the gender aspects have been adequately considered. In this paper, we evaluate the role of credit access on household food security. Beyond credit access, we also considered the amount of credit. Using cross‐sectional data from two unique regions of Cameroon, we estimated using ordered probit models, and to gain more insights, we performed a gender‐disaggregated analysis. Our results suggest that both formal credit access and the amount of credit are positively associated with the food security status of the household. However, informal credit access does not affect food security. The effects of credit are influenced by the gender of the household head as shown by our gender‐disaggregated results. We therefore recommend that policies that constraint households' access to formal credit should be relaxed.