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

Author: Kumar, Anjani

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-03-02

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13:

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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.

China’s Productivity Convergence and Growth Potential—A Stocktaking and Sectoral Approach
China’s Productivity Convergence and Growth Potential—A Stocktaking and Sectoral Approach

Author: Min Zhu

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2019-11-27

Total Pages: 46

ISBN-13: 1513515357

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China’s growth potential has become a hotly debated topic as the economy has reached an income level susceptible to the “middle-income trap” and financial vulnerabilities are mounting after years of rapid credit expansion. However, the existing literature has largely focused on macro level aggregates, which are ill suited to understanding China’s significant structural transformation and its impact on economic growth. To fill the gap, this paper takes a deep dive into China’s convergence progress in 38 industrial sectors and 11 services sectors, examines past sectoral transitions, and predicts future shifts. We find that China’s productivity convergence remains at an early stage, with the industrial sector more advanced than services. Large variations exist among subsectors, with high-tech industrial sectors, in particular the ICT sector, lagging low-tech sectors. Going forward, ample room remains for further convergence, but the shrinking distance to the frontier, the structural shift from industry to services, and demographic changes will put sustained downward pressure on growth, which could slow to 5 percent by 2025 and 4 percent by 2030. Digitalization, SOE reform, and services sector opening up could be three major forces boosting future growth, while the risks of a financial crisis and a reversal in global integration in trade and technology could slow the pace of convergence.

The Evolution of Agricultural Credit during China’s Republican Era, 1912–1949
The Evolution of Agricultural Credit during China’s Republican Era, 1912–1949

Author: Hong Fu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-05-30

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 3319768018

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In the modern era, China’s rural credit landscape is transforming at a dizzying rate, but, in terms of financial development, these changes represent a second attempt in the past 100 years to reform China’s credit institutions and provide credit access to farmers. The first period was during the Republican era, between 1912 and 1949, which saw the first attempts at formalizing rural credit with the Industrial and Agricultural Banks. This book uses primary data and papers to present a full picture of the difficult conditions China faced during the Republican era in order to explain the myriad reforms to the country's rural credit system. Fu and Turvey build a narrative around these developments based on the foundation of thousands of years of dynastic rule in order to explore the specific impacts of drought, floods, famine, communist insurgencies, Japanese expansionism, and more on credit access, supply and demand. They consider powerful personalities—such as J.B. Taylor, John Lossing Buck, Paul Hsu and Timothy Richards—and influential institutions—from Nanking and Nankai Universities to the China International Famine Relief Commission—that sought ways to end the cycle that trapped the vast majority of Chinese farmers in poverty. This rich, wide-ranging, and stimulating work will appeal both to readers focused on present day China and those who want to understand China’s rural economy and credit policies in a historical context.

China's Rural Financial System
China's Rural Financial System

Author: Yuepeng Zhao

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-10-04

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1136929916

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This book examines the credit needs and the borrowing behaviour of rural households in China in recent years. It is based on in-depth analysis of the status of households’ indebtedness and borrowing behaviour; the performance of Rural Credit Cooperatives (RCCs), as well as resources of informal finance. Before 2006, RCCs are virtually the only source of formal credit for rural households in China and were subject to a series of reforms from 1996 to 2003. The reforms aimed to transform RCCs into market-oriented institutions and, more importantly, help them meet the increasing demands of farmers for varied financial services, and thereby contribute effectively to economic transformation in rural China. Based on a micro-study of three villages, at different stages of development with dissimilar economic characteristics in Jiangxi province, this book investigates the sources of finance, formal and informal, in rural areas and the different types of credit that farmers require. It examines the patterns of credit required by rural households at different stages of agricultural processes, and the institutions from which they obtain loans. It demonstrates the importance of innovative institutional arrangements in rural China and new instruments that give farmers access to formal rural financial markets and enable them to utilize credit effectively, concluding that further reforms to RCCs are necessary for RCCs to be truly effective.

An Integrated Assessment of China’s Ecological Restoration Programs
An Integrated Assessment of China’s Ecological Restoration Programs

Author: Runsheng Yin

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-07-14

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 904812655X

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China has been undertaking unprecedented ecological restoration efforts to deal with its problems of soil erosion, flooding, dust storms, and habitat loss. While there have been studies of these efforts, questions remain concerning whether they have been effectively implemented, what their induced socioeconomic and ecological impacts are, and how their performance can be improved. Tackling these important questions in an integrated manner, “An Integrated Assessment of China’s Ecological Restoration Programs” is extraordinary for its broad coverage and methodological rigor. It provides a substantial improvement over the conventional approach of simply reporting projects undertaken and accepting uncritically the government assessment, and thus fills an important knowledge gap of the restoration efforts being implemented upon a variety of ecosystems in China.

Credit constraints and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Nigeria
Credit constraints and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Nigeria

Author: Balana, Bedru

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-08-19

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13:

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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.

The Palgrave Handbook of Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa
The Palgrave Handbook of Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa

Author: Evans S. Osabuohien

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-07-06

Total Pages: 670

ISBN-13: 3030415139

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This handbook examines agricultural and rural development in Africa from theoretical, empirical and policy stand points. It discusses the challenges of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and assesses how poverty and other development concerns can be addressed in rural communities through agricultural transformation. Additionally, the handbook extends the Post-2015 Development Agenda and it emphasizes the importance of the agricultural sector as it is closely related to the issues of food sustainability, poverty reduction, and employment creation. The contributors suggest multiple evidence-based policies to develop the rural areas through the transformation of the agricultural sector which can significantly benefit the African continent.