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The aim of this study is to discern the role of digital finance in driving rural industrial integration and revitalization. Specifically, it intends to shed light on how the deep development of digital finance can contribute to the optimization and transformation of the rural industrial structure. The research further explores the particular effects of this financial transformation in the central and western regions of China.

This research studies the influence of digital finance on rural industrial integration across 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020. Utilizing the entropy weight method, a comprehensive evaluation index system is established to gauge the level of rural industrial integration. A two-way fixed effects model, intermediary effect model, and threshold effect model are employed to decipher the relationship between digital finance and rural industrial integration.

Findings reveal a positive relationship between digital finance and rural industrial integration. A single threshold feature was identified: beyond a traditional finance development level, the marginal effect of digital finance on rural industrial integration increases. These effects are more noticeable in central and western regions.

Empirical outcomes contribute to policy discourse on rural digital finance, assisting policymakers in crafting effective strategies. Understanding the threshold of traditional finance development provides a new perspective on the potential of digital finance to drive rural industrial integration.

The purpose of this study is to examine the financial challenges faced by agricultural enterprises in the Republic of Kosovo. It aims to compare the various forms of financing used in Kosovo with those in European Union (EU) countries. The study seeks to highlight opportunities and challenges with a focus on how they can learn from the experiences of EU countries.

The study is based on responses from agricultural enterprises in both the EU and Kosovo. Data was gathered through a survey conducted with 50 agricultural enterprises in Kosovo, whereas for EU context, information from the 2020 Survey on the Financial Needs and Access to Finance of EU Agricultural Enterprises (provided by EAFRD). Statistical data were processed using the Stata and SPSS programs.

In agriculture sector, loan is the primary form of financing to expand their activities and capacities, whereas financing for agricultural enterprises exhibits a negative relationship with the bureaucratic procedures associated with financing.

The main research’s limitations include the unavailability of official data from the relevant institutions in Kosovo.

A possible implication arising from this research is the reliance of the development of agriculture enterprises on debt.

Due to the lack of comprehensive data in this regard, is unable to analyze the specific impact of gender in financing patterns of these enterprises.

This study provides real data on the current situation of agricultural enterprises in Kosovo. Considering Kosovo’s goal to integrate with the EU, this comparative approach adds significant value to the study.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relative importance of different sources of finance for agricultural and non-agricultural investments using unique Smallholder Financial Diaries collected by Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) in Mozambique, Pakistan and Tanzania at the individual and household level.

Following the analytical framework of variance decomposition developed in Samphantharak and Townsend (2010), this study develops a method to quantify how much each cash deficit associated to investments and expenses of interest co-move with different financing sources.

This paper finds that self-finance, rather than formal or informal finance from external providers, is the main financing source for long-term and short-term smallholder agricultural investments. Further, the paper finds that the main source of self-finance varies depending on the economic opportunities faced by smallholders, with non-agricultural income as the dominant financing source for some, while agricultural income dominating for others.

Given CGAP’s Smallholder Financial Diaries is not nationally representative, research results should be interpreted carefully. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to analyze financing sources for smallholder households making use of high frequency financial data for individuals in developing countries.

These findings imply that financial inclusion policies specifically targeting smallholders and the agricultural sector would benefit from enabling the development of an ecosystem of diverse financial services that respond simultaneously to both agriculture and non-agriculture needs.

This is paper furthers the authors’ knowledge on how smallholder households are financing their agricultural investments. Moreover, it applies methods in new ways to exploit a unique data set.

One of the challenging factors in achieving sustainable growth is the inability of the Nigerian government to diversify the country's revenue base. This study aims to investigate the relationship between cash crop financing and agricultural performance in Nigeria.

Four crops were considered, namely, cotton, cocoa, groundnut and palm oil. The impact of cash crop finance shock on agricultural performance was investigated using the vector error correction model (VECM), while the long-run relationship was examined through the identification of long-run restrictions on the VECM.

The variance decomposition showed that financing shock is more sensitive to cause variation in aggregate employment than aggregate agricultural output in palm oil, while for cocoa, cotton and groundnut showed otherwise. The long-run structural equations exert a positive relationship between cash crop financing and agricultural performance, except for oil palm and cocoa financing that has a negative connection with agrarian employment.

The study is limited to the unavailability of data for agriculture sector capital utilisation, which was not used.

These results show that long-run benefit can be maximised by appropriate funding in cotton and groundnut production to promote sustainable growth.

The study examines the impact of cash crop financing on agricultural performance with the aim to promote sustainable growth in Nigeria using identified VECM.

The purpose of this study is to identify and review strategic government policies on agricultural financing in Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. Four factors dictated the choice of these countries. In the first place, the study is set in African emerging markets – and the four countries are the widely acknowledged emerging markets in Africa (Onyiriuba, 2015). Secondly, the spread of the countries, to a large extent, mirrors Africa in general – Egypt and Morocco are in North Africa; Nigeria is a West African country; and, of course, South Africa. Thirdly, other countries in Africa tend to look up to the four countries, apparently as the largest economies in their respective regions. Needless to say, Nigeria alternates with South Africa as the largest economy in Africa. In this capacity, the two countries influence – indeed, mirror – continental Africa's emerging economic progress. Fourthly, lessons from agricultural policy and financing experiences of the four countries will certainly be useful to the other African countries. The specific objective of this paper is to determine how the government seeks to address the financing issues attendant on the risk-laden nature of agriculture through policy interventions. With this end in view, the paper analyses the strategic goals, objectives and beneficiaries of the agriculture financing policies of the government, as well as the constraints on access to finance by the farmers and the policy response.

The study involves a review of empirical literature and government policies on agricultural financing in Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. The high risks in agriculture (Onyiriuba, 2015; Mordi, 1988), risk aversion behaviour of banks towards agricultural financing (Onyiriuba, 2015, 1990), and the reluctance of insurers to take on agricultural risks (World Bank, 2018; Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2016; Onyiriuba, 1990; Mordi, 1988) underpin this methodology. There are two other considerations: the needs to find out how government seeks to address the financing issues in agriculture through policy intervention, and to avoid unwieldy research, one that combines government and institutional policy perspectives on agriculture financing. Thus the study is not approached from the perspective of banks and other lending institutions; neither does it combine government and institutional policy perspectives. It rather focuses on government policy in order to properly situate implications of the findings.

The authorities seek to get rid of bottlenecks, ease participation and redress constraints on access to finance in agriculture through policy interventions as a means of sustainable economic growth. The findings are characteristic of emerging markets, rooted in the transitional challenge of opening economies, economic reforms and the March of progress. However, with agriculture and natural resources – rather than industrialisation – as the main stay of their economies, the African emerging markets face an uphill task in their development efforts. This is evident in the divergent and gloomy pictures in which the literature paints their agricultural economies.

Government should gear financing policies to boost output as a means of ensuring food security. It should address risk aversion tendencies among the lenders and feeble credit guarantee, subsidies and budgetary allocations to agriculture. This will ensure effective commitment of the lenders to agriculture and underpin agricultural insurance. However, it demands strengthening links in the chain of access to, and monitoring of, credit for agricultural production. A realistic policy response should target the rural economy – with youth, women and smallholder farmers as ultimate beneficiaries. These actions should be intensified as measures to boost farming and the rural economy.

Current literature fails to situate the empirical findings in emerging markets context, reflecting economies in transition. Besides, in its current state, the literature does not explicitly clarify that agriculture, like most other sectors in such economies, is bound to experience the observed financing constraints. Neither does it clearly reflect how and why the findings should be seen as fleeting realities of the March of progress in transitional economies. This study will help to fill the gap.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, present and compare agricultural production financing alternatives available to grain producers in South Africa. From the South African perspective, agricultural land cannot always be utilised as collateral and therefore alternative financing has developed.

The study makes use of an exploratory study by applying qualitative techniques. The research population was agricultural finance providers in South Africa and semi‐structured interviews were conducted with representatives of the sample.

The production financing alternatives identified and presented include: grain contract financing; grain contract financing with additional collateral; and corporate farming. A comparison of these alternatives indicates that although the traditional balance sheet financing is a cheaper form of financing, using agricultural land as collateral has a number of limitations, especially within the South African context.

Using agricultural land as collateral to obtain production financing is not always viable considering the present South African agricultural environment. Commercial grain producers should therefore consider the identified alternative production financing.

Limited research on agricultural production finance from the South African perspective has been performed. Furthermore, no previous research on identifying production financing alternatives without utilising agricultural land as collateral has been performed. This paper therefore provides new knowledge by combining South African practice with theory.

Financial inclusion and digital finance go side by side and help enhance agricultural activities; however, the magnitude of digital financial services varies across countries. In line with this argument, this study aims to examine whether financial inclusion enhances agricultural participation and decompose the significance of the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially included – not financially included households and digital finance – no digital finance households.

This study uses Pakistan’s household integrated economic survey 2018/19 to test hypotheses. The logit model is used to examine the effect of financial inclusion on agriculture participation. Moreover, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder technique to investigate the difference in determinants of agricultural participation.

This study reports that financial inclusion positively influences agricultural participation, meaning households may have access to financial services and participate in agricultural activities. The results suggest that the likelihood of participating in agriculture in households with mobiles and smartphones is higher. Moreover, household size, income, age, gender, education, urban, remittances from abroad, fertilizer, pesticides, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables are the significant determinants of agricultural participation. To distinguish the financially included – not financially included households’ gap, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder decomposition and finds that differences in fertilizer explain the substantial gap in agricultural participation. Likewise, this study tests the digital finance – no digital finance gap and finds that the difference in fertilizer is a significant contributor, describing a considerable gap in agricultural participation.

Empirically identified that various factors cause agricultural participation including financial inclusion and digital finance. Regarding the research limitation, this study only considers a developing country to analyze the findings. However, for future research, scholars may consider some other countries to compare the results and identify their differences.

The accessibility of fertilizer can reduce the agricultural participation gap. However, increased income level, education and cotton and sugar production can also overcome the differences in agriculture participation between digital finance and no digital finance households.

This is the first study to decompose the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially and not financially included households.

This paper aims to provide a “biography” of sorts on Agricultural Finance Review. The paper tracks the evolution of Agricultural Finance Review from its introduction in 1938 to its current status.

The paper is based on a complete review of every paper and every issue. Not all papers were read by the author, but key papers of interest that in one way or another made significant contributions to the study of agricultural finance were reviewed.

The paper shows the evolution of agricultural finance from the early days of reporting financial data in the 1930s and 1940s, to its emergence as a major and significant sub discipline of the general field of agricultural economics.

As indicated, not all papers were fully reviewed or read. It is possible that papers identified as “firsts” may have been preceded by other papers. Nonetheless the paper identifies the basic evolutionary path of the journal and defines key points in time when a paradigm shift emerged to change the direction of this discipline.

As Agricultural Finance Review transitions from the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University to Emerald Group Publishing Limited, this “biography” provides readers with a general overview of the journal's and the discipline's historical development.

This paper is simply a review of the existing literature found in Agricultural Finance Review.

Using the consumption values theory (CVT) as a baseline model, this study aims to evaluate the factors that influence farmers' decision-making behavior regarding interest-free agricultural financing products.

Data were gathered from 321 banking customers using questionnaires who are engaged with the agriculture sector and wish to obtain finance related to Islamic agriculture products.

The findings demonstrate that the decision behavior for Islamic agriculture financing products is highly influenced by epistemic, emotional and functional values. On the contrary, conditional and social values do not influence farmers’ choice behavior for Islamic agriculture financing products.

There are a few limitations in this study. Initially, the study's geographic scope is limited to bank customers within the agriculture sector who live, in particular, in Southern Sindh province, Pakistan. Next, researchers extended the CVT to a specific focus on agricultural financing products by Islamic banks. Future researchers should take these concerns into consideration for better applicability, and it is anticipated that the research approach will be refined to best expand the results. Lastly, future researchers are expected to broaden the theory's relevance by considering the socio-cultural environmental conditions (culture, religious values and approaches) and social conditions in a wider range of Islamic agricultural financial instruments.

The findings are beneficial for practitioners intending to advance innovative Islamic agriculture financing products to cater to Pakistani farmers’ needs.

This research extends the CVT that offers valuable information for the development of consumers’ behavior in the setting of interest-free agricultural financing.

This paper aims to study Qard-al-Hasan (QH) (good loan) from the stand point of its possible application to agricultural farming with a view to augmenting the sources of Riba (interest)-free agricultural financing for Muslim farmers of Islamic countries like Pakistan.

This paper is a study of QH (good loan) from the stand point of its possible application to agricultural farming with a view to augmenting the sources of Riba (interest)-free agricultural financing for Muslim farmers of Islamic countries like Pakistan.

The study reports that Riba-free financing is essentially needed by poor Muslim farmers who, owing to prohibition of Riba, do not rely on interest (Riba)-based financing. The study also shows that QH is a viable option for fulfilling this need and is beneficial for the farmers as well as for the Islamic banks or financial institutions.

The case of QH as a potential mode of agricultural financing, as presented in this paper, is based on a theoretical or conceptual framework. The findings need to be further substantiated with empirical evidence. A future study, based on reliable empirical data would certainly add value to the subject.

Islamic banks and financial institutions typically rely on Musharakah (partnership), Murabaha (sale with profit), Ijarah (leasing), Salam (advance payment sale), Istisna’ (manufacturing contract), etc., and they rarely use QH as a mode of financing. Despite its huge utility, QH is practically non-existent in its application as an agricultural financing instrument. This paper presents a case for QH that can be adopted by Islamic banks or financial institutions for provision of the much needed financing for the small farmers of Islamic countries, as well as those living in non-Islamic countries.