Government-Backed Loans Program and Its Role in Supporting Small-Scale Farmers in Jordan

Access to credit and information and communication technology (ICT) plays a pivotal role in enhancing the practices of small-scale sugarcane farmers, impacting their financial, social, and economic wellbeing. However, many small-scale farmers need help accessing these resources, thereby affecting their ability to generate sustainable income. This study aimed to assess the factors influencing the adoption of ICT and access to credit and their subsequent impact on small-scale farmers' income. Employing a multistage sampling technique, 300 small-scale farmers were selected as participants in the study. The recursive bivariate probit regression model was used to assess the factors affecting adoption ICT and a selectivity-corrected ordinary least square regression model was utilized to estimate the synergistic effect of ICT adoption and access to credit on the income of small-scale sugarcane farmers. The findings revealed that approximately 77% of small-scale farmers had access to credit, while more than 80% had adopted ICT. The results derived from the recursive bivariate probit (RBP) regression model indicated that access to credit, education, and extension support positively and significantly influenced the adoption of ICT. Conversely, marital status and non-farm income exhibited a negative and significant influence on the adoption of ICT. Gender and marital status were positively and significantly associated with access to credit, whereas age, education, and non-farm income showed a negative and significant relationship on access to credit. Subsequently, a selectivity-corrected ordinary least square regression model analysis revealed that factors such as gender, marital status, extension, government support, and transportation costs positively and significantly influenced farmer's income. In contrast, education, employment status, and non-farm income exhibited a negative and significant influence on income. The study concludes that socio-demographic factors, such as gender, marital status, extension support, government support, and transportation costs, positively contribute to farmers' income. Small-scale sugarcane farmer involvement in other non-farm activities is associated with reduced farm income. This implies that farmers' livelihoods options are reduced as they can only focus on sugarcane development as a source of income. There is a pressing need to educate small-scale farmers on ICT and provide them with access to agricultural credit. Additionally, extension workers should offer advisory support to small-scale farmers requiring assistance in accessing agricultural credit. There is a need to train sugarcane farmers on different agricultural income generating activities to reduce their over-reliance on sugarcane development. By addressing the identified socio-demographic factors and implementing targeted policy interventions, stakeholders can foster an enabling environment for small-scale farmers to thrive, ultimately contributing to the sustainable development of the sugarcane sector and the broader agricultural landscape in South Africa.

PurposeThe study examined the penetration of financial inclusion in the agricultural sector, using small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria, as evidence.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized survey data generated from 425 questionnaires administered to small-scale farmers in both rural and urban locations in Enugu State. The study applied the adequacy gap, timeliness gap and penetration gap indices to measure the penetration of financial inclusion among the small-scale farmers in Enugu State.FindingsIt was found that different lending agencies, except for some cooperative societies, were unable to meet the credit needs of small-scale farmers in Enugu State as shown by the adequacy gap index. The timeliness gap index revealed the existence of time gap in the credit receipt of small-scale farmers given that agriculture is rain-fed in Enugu. The penetration gap index indicated that there is gap in the penetration of agricultural credit grants to small-scale farmers in Enugu State, showing a shallow penetration of financial inclusion in agricultural sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited in scope as a result of data and the desire to study small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria.Practical implicationsThe study recommended among others that government should encourage cooperatives more to meet credit needs of farmers in order to raise the level of financial inclusion penetration.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the only study that examines the penetration of financial inclusion among small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. This study contributes to the growing literature on financial inclusion in the agricultural sector as there is dearth of literature in this study area.

Agricultural intensification is widely seen as a condition sine-qua-non for enhanced food security and as a major driver for overall economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In this process, the financial system has an important role to play, especially to finance agricultural inputs. However in SSA, the financial institutions initiated by governments and donors have in general not lived up to the expectations, in particular not for the agricultural sector, because of inappropriate design and weaknesses in implementation. Even the microfinance institutions which were supposed to support the small-scale farmers have deflected for their goals due to the risks that the agricultural sector represents. To date, the economic research tends to concentrate on the mechanisms that secure the credit of microfinance institutions. However, the effective implementation of new mechanisms to secure credit appears more difficult than foreseen, as the decision making processes involved are complex and constrained by the lack of information. This paper argues that sustainable agricultural financing needs alternative schemes that secure both the credit of financial institutions and farmers’ income. It will also be shown how the new institutional economics perspective can be used to analyze and guide decision-making with respect to alternative schemes for agricultural financing. This paper which is based on quantitative and qualitative data presents the case of the inventory credit scheme on maize to facilitate access to agricultural inputs in Savannah region of Togo. In conclusion, some research areas will be indicated to improve our understanding of the inventory credit system.

Kenya boasts of having the best dairy sector in the region. The sector is the best performing in the agricultural sector, contributing 17% to the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) annually. It is dominated by small-scale farmers who account for the highest amounts of milk produced in the country especially in the Central and Rift Valley regions. These areas are most vigilant in dairy farming in Kenya and share ecological conditions and the same breed of animals, however, some areas produce the expected 20 litres per cow per day while others produce below that at about 5 litres per cow per day. Mukurweini sub-county in Nyeri County of Central region of Kenya is an area with intensive dairy farming but producing low amounts of milk, thus, the reason for selecting it for this study. Cross-sectional data on socio-economic factors and milk production in the past one month were collected from the 91 small-scale dairy farmers sampled in 2017, using semi-structured questionnaires. The study used the Stochastic Frontier model to analyze the technical, allocative and economic efficiency of milk production, while Tobit model was used to assess the factors associated with economic efficiency. The results indicated that the farmers had a mean of 68.7% in technical efficiency, 91.3% in allocative efficiency and 62.6% in economic efficiency. The results showed that the economic inefficiency among the farmers is mostly caused by low technical efficiency since the farmers indicated high levels of allocative efficiency. From the findings, there were considerable production inefficiencies and thus there was room for increasing productivity through the use of available inputs and reducing costs. Farmers having increasing returns to scale (IRS) showed that enhanced utilization of the available resources would yield a proportionate increase in the milk output. Increasing herd sizes, feeding animals with enough concentrates and ensuring the animals’ health care costs are met were found to be some of the solutions to the low milk v productivity among the small-scale farmers. At the same time, older farmers were found to be responsible for technical inefficiencies in milk production. The cost of concentrates and other feeds was found to be the major component of the total cost of dairy production. However, the allocative efficiency level among the farmers was quite high, an indication that the farmers in the study area, though resource-poor, were efficient at minimizing costs. The study indicated that age, household size, having dairy farming as the main source of income, hired labour and monthly cost of concentrates were the significant factors associated with economic efficiency among small-scale dairy farmers in Mukurweini. Price subsidies on dairy inputs, especially concentrates, as well as better milk prices, are some of the interventions that will see an increase in efficiency resulting in an increase in milk productivity.

The agricultural sector is a primary sector in a country, contributing to GDP, providing raw materials for industry, and ensuring food and nutritional security. Additionally, the agricultural sector often proves to be a stabilizing force for the national economy during economic crises. One financing model suitable for this sector is the sharia-compliant financing scheme. This study employs a bibliometric analysis to explore the extent of research on Islamic financing models for the agricultural sector, analyzing 41 Scopus-indexed journal articles. Six main themes emerge: conceptualizing Islamic agricultural financing, waqf technology for SDGs in agribusiness, risk management in Islamic agricultural credit, Islamic finance for agricultural projects, economic growth through Islamic agricultural finance, and Islamic Microfinance Institutions (IMFIs) in agricultural finance. The analysis identifies the most suitable Islamic financing modes as integrated salam contracts with IMFIs, Waqf Trustee-Anchor Company models for agribusiness on waqf land and crowdfunding models with salam contracts and muzaraah waqf. Additionally, qard-al-hasan, muzaraah, and aPLS (agricultural Production and Loss Sharing) scheme with ujrah principles are recommended for unproductive land development. Policymakers in the agricultural sector can leverage these findings to enhance the role of Islamic finance in fostering agricultural development, particularly in countries with a majority Muslim population.

The goal of mixing the four production elements: land, capital, labor, and organization is to achieve the most significant production at the lowest cost [1]; it can be said that work and capital are among the essential elements in the production process. Therefore, combining these two elements is one of the most critical decisions that determine productivity, especially in the Cobb-Douglas function; the agricultural sector is one of the most productive sectors in each country. The percentage of its participation in the local product varies from country to country. Still, the strategic importance in this sector is due to the verified food security. The agricultural sector in Jordan is less involved in local production, but it is the sector that is witnessing growth in all stages of the study; although this sector is suffering from marginalization, it still produces. The study focused on the intensity of the production elements and the yield stage in increasing or decrease reliability. The researchers reached some results: the agricultural sector in Jordan suffers from sluggish employment and persuasive unemployment, and the agricultural sector in Jordan is in decline. Therefore, they recommended restructuring workers in the agricultural sector and taking careful employment studies.

The study aimed to determine the impact of credit access from microfinance institutions on the farm performance of 87 small-scale mango farmers in Davao del Sur. It addressed the lack of literature documenting the effects of microfinance credit on farm productivity. The findings of this study are expected to inform policy formation and interventions that enhance access to microfinance credit among mango farmers. A cross-sectional and descriptive research design was utilized to meet the study objectives. Using statistical tools such as frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis showed that most small-scale mango farmers were aged 36 to 51, predominantly male, married, and high school graduates. Most had 4 to 6 household members, identified as Cebuano, and owned 1 to 2 hectares of farmland. Most received and repaid loans in cash, with interest, and were required to provide collateral to access credit. Increased access to capital and higher productivity per hectare were rated highly among the economic benefits. The level of engagement and collaboration among small-scale mango farmers was rated as moderate. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between economic benefits and financial performance; however, no significant association was found between engagement/collaboration and the farmers’ financial performance. Additionally, most farmers identified climate change, pest and disease outbreaks, limited access to quality inputs, and market access and pricing issues as key challenges in mango production. Since many respondents were small-scale farmers with only a high school education, providing targeted training programs on available financial services, agricultural best practices, and climate change adaptation strategies would be beneficial. This would help ensure that farmers are better informed about improved productivity and financial management options.

The paper reviewed the prospects and challenges of agricultural credit policies in Nigeria. Agricultural credit plays an important role in the agricultural sector of Nigerian economy. Agricultural credit enhances productivity, promotes standard of living and gives absolute support to Agri-business enterprises. It is in recognition of the role of credit in agricultural production that the Nigerian government has over the years formulated agricultural credit policies, programmes and institutions meant to encourage food production and better the lives of farmers. These agricultural credit policies, programmes and institutions are highlighted and discussed. The role of credit in agricultural development is crucial and its constraints can affect farmer’s investment behaviour. It is found that loan beneficiaries often obtained more farm income than non-beneficiaries. Generally, small scale farmer’s low access to credit facility was found to be due to the requirements for collateral, bureaucratic bottlenecks by financial institutions and the perceived high risk and uncertainty of agricultural production. The paper recommended that since farmers constitute majority of the population of Nigeria, government should give special attention to farmers through the provision of special incentives and allocation on credit, policies geared toward diversification of agricultural credit activities should be encouraged in order to minimize risk and uncertainties also Bank personnel should be given special training to ease loan acquisition by rural farmers and supervision so as to avoid loan default.

The Agricultural sector which used to be the mainstay of the Nigerian economy in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s is now conceived as a risky and unprofitable venture by financial institutions and government. This is because the financial institutions prefer to give funds to other sectors where payback period is short and return rate is high and also because the agricultural sector is inadequately funded by the government due to low budgetary allocation to the Agricultural sector over the years. The study examined the impact of Agricultural Financing on Economic Performance in Nigeria within the sampled period of 1978-2017. The study specifically attempted to assess the impact of Agricultural Financing on Economic Performance in Nigeria. The study which utilizes data through secondary sources from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin were analyzed using the Unit root test, Bound Cointegration test and error correction modelling to empirically estimate the coefficient of parameter estimates. The statistical decision of the analysis is based on 5% (0.005) level of significance. From the result, it was deduced that in the long-run, Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) is the most influential agricultural financing variable (as compared to government expenditure on agriculture and commercial bank credit to agriculture) that contributed to economic performance, as it revealed that (ACGSF) had strong positive impact on the growth rate of the Nigerian economy. The study concluded and strongly maintained that Agricultural Financing contributed poorly to the economic performance of Nigeria within the sampled period basically because of inadequate funding.

Studies have shown that Trinidad has an aged farming population. Young persons are not entering the sector. As such, older farmers will continue to be the backbone of Trinidad’s agricultural sector. There is urgent need for focus to be placed on improving the state of occupational health and safety within this sector. This study sought to determine farmers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards occupational health and safety issues in agriculture and recommend actions to reduce/prevent health and safety hazards in agriculture. A total of 100 small-scale commercial-oriented vegetable farmers from ten of the most populated agricultural pockets across Trinidad were surveyed as part of this study. The results of this study indicated that farmers had overall good knowledge, fairly positive attitudes but strong negative perceptions towards occupational health and safety issues in agriculture. Gender was not a significant factor on knowledge, attitude or perception levels. Additionally, attitude varied significantly based on characteristics of farmers (age and job type) and communication efforts by extension. This study validates the need for more emphasis to be placed on occupational health and safety within Trinidad’s agricultural sector, which can be achieved through directed programs, policies and practices by government and its related agencies. Key words: Occupational health and safety, Agriculture, knowledge, small-scale farmers, Trinidad.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence farmers' preference for the use of Islamic banks in Turkey and to investigate their knowledge level and perception about Islamic finance.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data used in this study is obtained by drawing a sample of 1902 farmers who are members of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives Union (ACCU) from 37 provinces of Turkey. Pearson's Chi-square test is used to analyze the association between the demographic features of farmers, conventional bank usage and Islamic bank usage. Binary logistic regression model is used to estimate the factors influencing the preference for Islamic banks. Explanatory variables include knowledge on Islamic banking and finance, perception of compliance to religion, saving ability and cost concern along with the control variables of Islamic bank branch number in the region and age of respondent. Robustness check is conducted via alternative models using ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression.FindingsLess than 10% of the participant farmers use Islamic banks and 59% declare they know nothing about Islamic banking. Age, education level, income level, nonagricultural income level, saving ability, duration of working in agriculture, land size and region are significantly related to farmers' preference of using Islamic banks. Knowledge level, perception of religious compliance, saving ability and cost concern are statistically significant factors that influence the probability of using Islamic banks.Research limitations/implicationsThis study does not include the analysis of the relationship between being religious and using Islamic banks because questions related to the assessment of religious practice were excluded due to the ACCU's sensitivity to investigate personal beliefs. Therefore, future studies can expand the scope of this research by investigating religiousness. The sample is chosen from the ACCU members who are already benefiting from a formal source of credit; therefore, the results should not be attributed to all farmers.Practical implicationsIslamic banks and microfinance institutions' further engagement in the agricultural sector and ACCU's implementation of Islamic finance instruments.Social implicationsIslamic banks' further diversification in the agricultural sector and ACCU's implementation of Islamic finance instruments.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate the farmers' perception and preference of Islamic banking in Turkey. The sample size of 1902 is much larger and geographically diversified compared to studies in agricultural finance. This study will be valuable for the agricultural finance empirical studies in Turkey as well as an important addition to the emerging literature on Islamic finance.

Financial management, a detrimental factor in business survivability, is given little attention in the agriculture sector, especially among small agri-enterprises like small-scale farmers who rely entirely on selling their produce as their source of income. Thus, this study aimed to ascertain the level of financial management practices of small-scale farmers trading in disintermediated markets and their profitability and examine the significant relationship between the two variables. Simple random sampling was utilized during the selection, comprising 150 small-scale farmers in Digos City. This quantitative study used a descriptive, predictive design through an adapted-standardized research questionnaire. Findings revealed that small-scale farmers have a moderate level of overall financial management practices in terms of savings and investment, cash management, credit management, and insurance. Further, only cash management and savings and investment have a statistically significant correlation with profitability, whereas credit management and insurance proved to have none statistically. Nonetheless, overall financial management practices have a statistically significant correlation with profitability. Finally, the researchers recommended that financial institutions and governments organize informative seminars on financial management practices for rural farmers. This study could provide valuable insights into effective financial management practices and aid smallholders achieve greater financial sustainability and profitability.

Developing a conceptual model is vital for small-scale organic farmer’s credit access to sustain the livelihoods. However, smallholders continually face severe problems in getting finance that lead to reduce investment and in turn, challenges the livelihoods. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to establish and empirically test a theoretical model to explore how agility and innovativeness in organic food value chain finance are achieved through ITI, TRST, CG, ICT, and IS, and how these, in turn, can accelerate financial flow in the value chain and enhance competitiveness. The present study used a survey method and collected data from small-scale farmers, traders, and financial institutions. The model and hypothesis are tested using data obtained from 331 respondents through partial least square structure equation modeling techniques. We argue that development of theoretical model show potential to increase creditworthiness of smallholders and overcome uncertainties that impede traditional value chain credit arrangement. Thus, the present study could provide new ways to integrate the value chain partners, through information and communication technology and governance arrangements in the organic food value chain financing. This study demonstrates that the mediations of innovativeness and agility significantly affect the development of new financial products to make agile the financial flow, which in turn positively influences value chain competitiveness. Significant judgments are required for trustworthy relations among the value chain partners to positively harness innovative product development for swifter value chain finance. Therefore, this theoretical model should not be regarded as a quick solution, but a process of testing, error, and learning by doing so.

Low access to credit in the agricultural sector is also caused by problems of agricultural sector actors (especially farmers) and financial institutions. Farmers are still having difficulty in accessing credit (accessibility and unbankable) and the limited financial institutions that channel credit to the agricultural sector. Therefore, the government must issue a policy in growing the agricultural sector, especially in anticipation of access credit constraints by farmers. The agricultural sector as a high-risk business, therefore formal institutions are less interested in financing the agricultural sector on the grounds of high transaction costs, asymmetric information, low profits, lack of collateral, education of farmers is relatively low. In addition, most banks do not want to finance agriculture due to fluctuating production and uncontrolled price risk. While the constraints of the farmers in obtaining formal credit is a complex procedure, there should be collateral as well as high payment delay fees, long distances and less information about capital.

This paper sets out to show efficiency gains and/or losses of trade reforms in Malawi using simulation experiments in a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. Among others, the study shows that a 50 percent tariff cut coupled with fixed government savings has the same impact on selected macroeconomic variables when capital is mobile as when it is activity specific. When capital is activity-specific, the tariff cut has a positive impact on labour income in the non-agricultural sector and a similar impact on capital income in commercial agriculture. Overall labour income in the agricultural sector is unaffected while the impact on capital income in small scale agriculture and non-agriculture sectors is negative. When capital is mobile, the tariff cut leads to a fall in the capital income in small scale agriculture. The study further shows that doubling foreign aid to Malawi increases consumption and adversely affects the production side of the economy. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n3p307