Health shocks and rural farmers credit access shifts in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from the Kwahu Afram Plains South District, Ghana

Abstract

In the extensive literature, farmers' credit access in SSA has been examined, albeit with limited evidence derived from health-related shocks (e.g. pandemics). While the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) "COVID-19″pandemic has exacerbated rural communities' economic downturn and financial challenges, there is still scant evidence on how this lethargy shaped farmers' credit access. Through 105 semi-structured household interviews and 10 key informant interviews in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District of Ghana, this research explores the variations and determinants of agricultural credit access in rural communities before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, using Analysis of Variance "ANOVA" and logistic regression. The findings revealed that while marital status, organizational membership and the size of household labour accounted for significant variations in agricultural credit access before the pandemic, variations during the pandemic were explained by income status, gender, and household labour. Furthermore, shifts in the determinants of agricultural credit access during the pandemic were reported as household labour size, marital status, and the interaction of motorbike ownership and organizational membership, which played crucial roles in predicting the likelihood of credit access before the pandemic. Conversely, during the pandemic, gender, savings, household labour size and livestock ownership significantly determined agricultural credit access in rural communities. Based on these empirical insights, the paper advocates that savings should be encouraged and social capital should be strengthened as pandemic resilience mechanisms. At the same time, policies and programs to improve agricultural credit access during health-related shocks should target vulnerable groups. This study contributes to the theoretical debate on rural farmers' credit access determinants, emphasizing the COVID-19 pandemic as a health shock.