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Warehouse receipt-based financing (WRF), an innovative instrument with its structure embedded in the agricultural value chain can potentially address farmers' concerns about timely credit access and accessible remunerative markets. However, studies indicate farmers' exclusion from currently practiced WRF mechanisms across developing countries. Transaction cost and lack of assured remunerative markets post storage are the challenges thwarting farmers' participation. The study explores how these challenges can be addressed by analyzing a case study. The finding will help in coming up with a farmer-inclusive WRF mechanism.

The study uses a case study as an analysis tool. Primary data is gathered through farmers. Descriptive statistics and partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modeling methodology has been adopted for empirical testing of the hypothesis of the study. The study uses SMART PLS 3.0 for analysis of data.

Single window offering of multiple value chain operations and technological intervention in physical handling substantially reduces transaction costs for farmers. Sustained farmers' participation in the case supports this finding. The presence of an assured market (PAM) is found to have a positive and significant relationship with WRF in the case of beneficiary farmers. The PAM is found to have a negative yet significant relationship with WRF in the case of nonbeneficiary farmers. Critical success factors of the entity KisanMitra stated in the case substantiates a farmer-inclusive WRF mechanism.

The study analyzes a case study of specific geography. However, similarities enlisted across developing countries in the introduction section provide a scope of generalization of findings across developing countries. The identified factors for a farmer-inclusive WRF mechanism will enable the governments, policymakers and development institutions to ascertain and align their WRF implementation measures to inculcate and upgrade these factors to the prospective WRF agents. Future studies can explore the replication of farmer-inclusive WRF mechanisms across other geographies. The studies also explores the role of technological interventions in further reducing the transaction cost and suitable policy modifications to encourage replication of the study in other geopgraphical context.

The study on WRF and the methodology adopted is first of its kind to identify factors for a farmer-inclusive WRF mechanism.

Agricultural banks likely respond differently to economic downturns compared to nonagricultural banks. Limited previous research has examined the performance of agricultural banks under economic crisis and in the presence of banking regulations. This study aims to explore agricultural banks' responses to economic and regulation shocks relative to nonagricultural banks.

This study uses bank-quarter level data from 2002 to 2022 for virtually all commercial banks in the U.S. In this research, the Z-score measures the bank’s default risk, the return on assets measures bank profitability and changes in amount of farm loans indicate the wider impact on the agricultural sector. Effects of the financial crisis, Basel III reforms to banking regulation and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on these banking measures are assessed using distinct empirical frameworks. The empirical estimations use various subsamples based on bank types, bank sizes and time periods.

Economic downturns are associated with fluctuations in returns and the risk of default of commercial banks. Agricultural banks appeared to be more resilient to economic downturns than nonagricultural banks. However, Basel III regulated agricultural banks were more likely to fail amidst the pandemic-related economic shocks than the regulated non-agricultural banks.

This study examines the resiliency of agricultural banks during economic downturns and under postfinancial crisis regulation. This is one of the first empirical works to analyze the effectiveness of Basel III regulation across bank types and sizes considering the COVID-19 pandemic. The key finding suggests that banking regulation should consider not only size heterogeneity but also the heterogeneity in lending portfolios.

This study aims to focus on the impact of multi-level knowledge sharing between and within organizations on the risk control of rural inclusive finance. The paper presents a synergistic risk control system integrating external and internal factors for rural inclusive finance by constructing different knowledge-sharing platforms in an environment, which is full of many uncertainties.

This study is based on survey methods. To achieve the research objectives, the authors adopt a single case study approach. For data collection, the authors apply a wide variety of methods such as semi-structured interviews, field visits, second-hand databases and official websites.

The results emphasize that using multi-level knowledge sharing such as the inter- and intra-organizational level, can facilitate the risk control of rural inclusive finance during the post-COVID-19 era. Furthermore, it is also noted that achieving knowledge sharing at different levels by building diverse knowledge-sharing platforms can promote the risk control of rural inclusive finance from the individual-organization level to the chain level of multi-organization collaboration, which contributes to the formation of symbiotic risk control ecology.

The authors have formed the “Chinese wisdom” to deal with inclusive financial risks and to promote in-depth development in relation to the “last mile” practice of inclusive finance, which means the final and the most important phase of a project. The conclusions contribute to enriching the outcomes regarding the risk control of rural inclusive finance, provide experiences to its sustainable development and offer a reference to other countries with their risk control of rural inclusive finance.

Drawing on the knowledge-sharing approach, this study creatively resolves the persistent problems in the risk control of rural inclusive finance, which forms a powerful supplement to the extant literature. Meanwhile, the paper combines the two contextual factors of the post-COVID-19 era and emerging economies, which can be deemed as a novel attempt.

The objective of the study is to explore explanations for the capital structure compositions of farmer cooperatives, which have a unique equity structure with allocated equity as well as unallocated equity.

Data came from a panel of US grain marketing and input supply cooperatives for the 2010–2020 period. The study is concerned with the proportions of debt, allocated equity and unallocated equity, which requires the application of a fractional multinomial panel model to ensure predictions fall within the observed data range (i.e. 0–1).

Larger cooperatives have relatively high debt proportions. Diversification of the product portfolio has a positive effect on the debt proportion. Profitability is associated with higher debt proportions in input supply cooperatives and higher allocated equity proportions in grain marketing cooperatives. Over time, the proportion of unallocated equity increased. Overall, some results differ across grain marketing and input supply cooperatives.

Increasing proportions of unallocated equity warrant a debate about the future value of ownership and governance by members of farmer cooperatives.

Previous empirical investigations of the capital structure compositions of cooperatives lacked a distinction between allocated and unallocated equity. Our results show that the proportions of the two equity accounts respond differently to given predictors. Furthermore, much of the prior empirical literature fails to separate cooperatives on the basis of economic activities (i.e. marketing, supply and mixed).

In this paper, the heterogeneity of the linkages among financial development, productivity and growth across income groups is emphasized.

An empirical analysis is conducted with an illustrative sample of 130 economies over the period 1991–2019 and classified into four subsamples: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), developing, least developed and net food importing developing countries. Forecast error variance decompositions and panel vector auto-regressive estimations are computed, with insightful findings.

Higher levels of output stimulate the economic development in the agricultural sector, mainly via the productivity channel and, in the most developed economies, also through access to credit. Differently, in developing and least developed economies, the role of access to credit is marginal. The findings have practical implications for stakeholders involved in the planning of long-run investments. In less developed economies, priorities should be given to investments in technology and innovation, whereas financial markets are more suited to boost the development of the agricultural sector of developed economies.

The authors conclude on the credit–output–productivity nexus and contribute to the literature in (at least) three ways. First, they assess how credit access, agricultural output and agricultural productivity are jointly determined. Second, they use a novel approach, which departs from most of the case studies based on single-country data. Third, they conclude on potential causality links to conclude on policy implications.

Despite being a Muslim-dominated country, Bangladesh has widely embraced traditional microfinance since its inception in the mid-1970s. However, Islamic microfinance, which has a lot to offer to the poor, is still in its infancy and has yet to gain momentum in the country. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the importance of Islamic microfinance and propose alternative Shariah-compliant microfinance models in Bangladesh.

This study is based on the desk research method, which relies on existing literature to collect secondary data on key concerns of traditional microfinance programs. In addition, institutional-level secondary data were also collected from the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) of Bangladesh. Guided by the Maqasid-al-Shariah, this study then proposes several Islamic microfinance models to overcome selected challenges faced by the microfinance industry in Bangladesh.

This study suggested three composite Shariah-compliant microfinance models, which are likely to help the underprivileged and thus ensure the achievement of the sustainable development goals in Bangladesh. The first model explained how the operational strategy of incumbent microfinance institutions (MFIs) could be restructured, while the second proposed the organizational strategies for establishing a new MFI. The third model used the notion of Sadaqah (charity) to address the multiple borrowing issues of the industry. Meanwhile, the successful transformation of the conventional microfinance industry to an Islamic one is dependent on the effective collaboration between the regulatory authorities, practitioners and MFIs.

Albeit the paucity of literature on the topic, the findings of this study will guide policymakers/practitioners in designing relevant microfinance models to help transform conventional microfinance into Islamic microfinance in Bangladesh.

Collaboration in agricultural value chains (AVCs) has the potential to increase smallholders’ participation in international value chains and increase their benefits from participation. This scoping review explores existing collaboration models among stakeholders of AVCs in developing countries, examines enablers and constraints of collaboration and identifies policy gaps.

We systematically searched three databases, CAB Abstracts, Econlit (EBSCO) and Agricola, for studies published between 2005 and 2023 and included 59 relevant studies on AVC collaboration.

The primary motivations for collaboration are to enhance market access and improve product quality. Key outcomes of collaboration include improvements in farmers’ welfare, market participation and increased production; only a few studies consider improved risk management as an important outcome. Robust support from government and non-governmental entities is a primary enabler of collaboration. Conversely, conflicts of interest among stakeholders and resource limitations constrain collaboration possibilities. Collaboration involving high-value crops prioritizes income increases, whereas collaboration involving staple crops focuses on improving household food security.

This study may have publication bias as unsuccessful instances of collaboration are less likely to be published.

This study is unique in highlighting collaboration models’ characteristics and identifying AVC policy and programmatic areas where private firms, farmers’ groups, local governments and donor agencies can contribute.

The research objective of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of green finance on agricultural carbon total factor productivity (ACTFP) within the framework of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (dual carbon) goals, while also identifying the driving factors through an exponential decomposition of ACTFP, aiming to provide policy recommendations to enhance financial support for low-carbon agricultural development.

In this paper, the Global Malmquist Luenberger (GML) Index method was employed to analyze and decompose the ACTFP, while the direct and spillover effects of China’s green finance pilot policy (GFPP) on ACTFP were assessed using the difference-in-differences (DID) method and the spatial differences-in-differences (SDID) method, respectively.

After the implementation of the GFPP, the ACTFP in the pilot area has experienced significant improvement, with the enhancement of technical efficiency serving as the main driving force. In addition, the GFPP exhibits a positive low-carbon spatial spillover effect, indicating it benefits ACTFP in both the pilot and adjacent areas.

Within the framework of the dual carbon goals, the paper highlights agriculture as a significant carbon emitter. ACTFP is assessed by considering the agricultural carbon emission factor as the sole non-desired output, and the impact of the GFPP on ACTFP is investigated through the DID method, thereby providing substantial validation of the hypotheses inferred from the mathematical model. Subsequently, the spillover effects of GFPP on ACTFP are analyzed in conjunction with the spatial econometric model.

The goal of this study was to determine the impact of access to credit facilities on financial performance among farmers of cooperative societies. The study also tested the predictive power of financial literacy.

The descriptive survey research design was used for the study while the sample size was 240 farmers of cooperative societies from South-East Nigeria. The farmers were categorised into those with access to credit facilities and those without access to credit facilities. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. Data were analysed using multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA) and multiple regression analysis.

Farmers with access to credit facilities reported higher financial performance such as return on investment, working capital, net profit, profit margin and sales. However, those without access to credit facilities reported lower mean scores on financial performance. Also, financial literacy, like financial knowledge, attitude and awareness, significantly predicts the impact of access to credit facilities on financial performance. It was also found that the duration of repayment of credit facilities, like medium and long term, contributes more to improving financial performance.

This study has shown that even though access to credit facilities impacts financial performance, financial literacy is an important consideration. Also, the duration of repayment is a crucial factor.

The credit of agricultural product quality and safety reflects the ability of the main actors involved in the supply chain to provide reliable agricultural products to consumers. To fundamentally solve the problem of agricultural product quality and safety, it is worth studying how to make the credit awareness and integrity self-discipline of the supply chain agriculture-related subjects strengthened and the role and value of credit supervision given full play. Starting from the application of blockchain in the agricultural product supply chain, this paper aims to investigate the main factors affecting the credit regulation of agricultural product quality.

Using the DEMATEL-ISM (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory–interpretative structural modeling) method, we analyze the credit influencing factors of agricultural quality and safety empowered by blockchain technology, find the causal relationship between the crucial influencing factors and deeply explore the hierarchical transmission relationship between the influencing factors. Then, the path analysis in structural equation modeling is utilized to verify and measure the significance and effect value of the transmission relationship among the crucial influencing factors of credit regulation.

The results show that the quality and safety credit regulation of agricultural products is influenced by a combination of direct and deep influencing factors. Long-term stable cooperative relationship, Quality and safety credit evaluation, Supply chain risk control ability, Quality and safety testing, Constraints of the smart contract are the main influence path of blockchain embedded in agricultural product supply chain quality and safety credit supervision.

Credit supervision is an important means to improve the ability and level of social governance and standardize the market order. From the perspective of blockchain embedded in the agricultural supply chain, the regulatory body is transformed from the product body to the supply chain body. Take the credit supervision of supply chain subjects as the basis of agricultural product quality supervision. With the help of blockchain technology to improve the effectiveness of agricultural product quality and safety credit supervision, credit supervision is used to constrain and incentivize the behavior of agricultural subjects.