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This study examined the impact of the Input Credit Scheme (ICS) by the Integrated Water Management and Agriculture Development (IWAD) on the productivity and food security of smallholder rice farmers in Ghana.

Cross-sectional data from 250 rice farming households in the Mamprugu Moagduri district of the North East Region obtained from a multi-stage sampling technique were used for the study. Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA), Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Kendall's coefficient of concordance were the methods of analysis employed.

Empirical results show that education, rice farming experience, dependency ratio, FBO membership, farm size and farm age were the significant factors influencing participation in the input credit scheme (ICS). Also, participants had an average rice productivity of 1,476.83 kg/ha, whereas non-participants had 1,131.81 kg/ha implying that participants increased their productivity by about 30%. In addition, the study revealed that participant households increased their household dietary diversity (HDDS) by 0.45 points amounting to about 8% diversity in their diets. High-interest rates associated with credit received, the short periods of credit repayment and the high cost of inputs provided under the scheme were the most challenging constraints associated with partaking in the ICS.

The available literature on agricultural interventions have predominantly emphasized input credit as a key factor for improving cropt productivity and food security of smallholders. This study provides compelling evidence that participation in ICSs can result in substantial benefits for agricultural development, as evidenced by increased productivity leading to improved food security. The significance of these findings is highlighted by the fact that, through participation in input credit schemes, smallholder rice farmers in many developing countries see substantial improvement in their capacity to access productive resources, thereby improving their productivity, while simultaneously reducing food insecurity.

Leveraging on the improved productivity of participants in the ICS, this study advocates that such input credit schemes should scale up to more food-insecure farming communities in Ghana.

The study uses a doubly robust econometric approach to evaluate the impact of ICS on smallholder rice farmers' productivity and food security in Ghana, making it the first of its kind. The findings offer a solid basis for future research and provide guidance for policymakers looking to boost agricultural development in Ghana.

The purpose of this study is to elaborate the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap from the perspective of labor transfer, and use a dynamic panel mediation model to test the transmission mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer, so as to provide an empirical basis for narrowing the urban–rural income gap in China.

This paper constructs a mechanism analysis framework for rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap. From the perspective of resource allocation and labor transfer, the authors expound the transmission path of rural credit input to the urban–rural income gap and analyze the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input that affects the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer. Based on this, this paper uses the dynamic panel mediation model to test the effect relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap in 31 provinces of China from 2009 to 2018.

In theory, increasing rural credit input can ease the financial constraints on the development of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” and provide capital accumulation for the development of rural non-agricultural industries. The development of rural non-agricultural industries can provide more jobs for rural surplus labor, thereby increasing the labor rate of return in rural areas, and ultimately conducive to narrowing the urban–rural income gap. Further, increasing rural credit input can improve the development level of rural non-agricultural industries, thereby promoting the transfer of agricultural labor. At the same time, rural credit input based on the intermediary variable of labor transfer has a significant inhibitory effect on the urban–rural income gap.

This study mainly focuses on the relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap, so it is impossible to use micro-level data to further verify the impact of rural credit input on labor transfer. At the same time, the collection of indicators of rural credit investment in the China Financial Yearbook only started in 2009, which limited the number of samples to a certain extent.

This paper assumes that the economy is mainly composed of urban and rural economic sectors. Therefore, labor can flow freely between urban and rural areas. However, in the near future, China's rural secondary and tertiary industries may develop rapidly, especially with the in-depth implementation of rural revitalization strategy, it is very important to pay attention to the current situation of rural industrial structure and incorporate the factors such as rural industrial structure into the existing model.

This study attempts to provide a new perspective and inspiration for rural credit input, the optimal allocation of labor force and narrowing the urban–rural income gap under China's rural revitalization strategy.

Based on the analysis framework of neoclassical economic theory, this paper uses the constant elasticity of substitution production function to establish an urban–rural two-sector nested model that includes credit supply variables and analyzes the mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how farm production and input use (land, variable inputs, labour, and capital) is related to farm access to credit in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) transition countries.

Drawing on a unique farm level panel data set with 37,409 observations and employing a matching estimator, this paper analyses how farm access to credit affects farm input allocation and farm efficiency in the CEE transition countries. The large size of the FADN data set has an additional advantage. It allows the authors to employ a semi‐parametric estimator based on the propensity score matching. Using more than 37,409 observations assures that the loss in efficiency of semi‐parametric estimates, as compared to parametric ones, is not a problem. This is important for at least two reasons. First, applying a semi‐parametric propensity score matching (PSM) estimator allows to control for any heterogeneity in the relationship between farm performance and their observable characteristics (in particular access to credit). Second, matching estimators are robust in situations where farms having access to credit systematically differ from those that do not.

It is found that farms are asymmetrically credit constrained between inputs. The use of variable inputs and capital investment increases up to 2.3 percent and 29 percent, respectively, per 1,000 EUR of additional credit. The authors' estimates suggest also that farm access to credit increases the total factor productivity up to 1.9 percent per 1,000 EUR of additional credit, indicating that an improved access to credit results in adjusting the relative input intensities on farms. This finding is further supported by a negative effect of better access to credit on labour, suggesting that these two are substitutes. Interestingly, farms are found not to be credit constrained with respect to land.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, the present paper is the first to investigate the importance of access to credit for farm performance in the CEE region as a whole.

Outgrower scheme as a contractual agreement between farmers and some funding entities has in recent times found proliferation among resource poor farmers in Ghana, especially in northern Ghana. This contractual arrangement, which involves the provision of farm inputs, and in some cases, technical support by the implementing company and the repayment by farmers with portions of their harvest, is often regarded as an effective way to mutually improve the outcomes of both smallholder farmers and outgrower companies. The study aims to analyse. the level of awareness, nature of input package, determinants of participation and intensity of participation in input credit scheme by smallholder rice farmers in the Mamprugu Moagduri District of Ghana’s North East Region, using the Integrated Water Management and Agriculture Development (IWAD) scheme as a case.

Using a quantitative analytical approach, the study gathers information from 233 randomly selected smallholder rice farmers consisting of 150 participants and 83 non-participants using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, as well as the Tobit model, are the methods used in the analysis.

The results show that while factors such as age, marital status, number of dependents and farming experience only influenced participation in the scheme, religion, age, sex, number of dependents and farming experience influenced intensity of participation.

This study calls for the adoption of sustainable approaches by input credit companies in their credit support to smallholder farmers rather than the current ad hoc support during each cropping season.

Recently the World Bank, aid donors, and others have shown greater interest in improving the income prospects of small farmers in LDC's. This interest springs in part from the fact that small farmers are at the bottom of the income ladder in many poor countries (though landless rural workers may be even worse off). Proposals to raise small farmer incomes have run the gamut from “wide‐spread” land reform to urban migration. Credit reallocation towards small and away from large farms has also been consistently advocated and has received renewed impetus due to the perceived failure of other alternative measures. Effective land reform has been found difficult to achieve short of full scale political revolution while enthusiasm for nonagricultural solutions has been tempered, at least until recently, by disappointing growth of high income employment opportunities in urban sectors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of access to credit and safety nets on fertilizer adoption in rural Ethiopia.

A panel data set collected in 2005 and 2007 on 278 households and over 5,700 plots from the Southern Highlands of Ethiopia is examined. The authors developed a theoretical model relating input use and credit contract under third-party credit collateral agreement. The estimation is based on instrumental variables regressions to account for the endogeneity of credit access, and safety nets in fertilizer demand equation.

Despite increasing trends in fertilizer and improved varieties adoption since mid-2003, only 22 percent of the plots in the sample is actually received fertilizer. Households with more assets measured by livestock wealth are more likely to adopt fertilizer but less likely to participate in the local credit market as they have better savings that could be used to buy fertilizer/improved seeds without credit contract. This suggests poorer farmers heavily depend on credit than wealthier. Participation in safety nets programs did not contribute for increased use of fertilizer suggesting that the program either competes with agricultural labor or the low wage income was not enough to pay for farm inputs.

The findings show that with a heavier reliance on credit by poorer farmers it appears that much might be gained by targeting policies toward increasing credit access to this group.

Studies that utilize repeated plot- and household-level observations are limited. To the knowledge, this is the first study showing the relationship between credit accesses, public work program and fertilizer adoption over time in rural Ethiopia.

As a major agricultural province in central China, Hubei Province mainly carries out the peasant household credit investigation system through rural credit cooperatives (RCCs). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of the peasant household credit investigation system in Hubei RCCs and provide some evidence and ideas to the formulation of relevant policies.

First, this paper briefly reviews the related literature of the efficiency in credit investigation system; second, the paper gives a brief description of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and designs the indicators for efficiency evaluation; third, the paper accounts data sources and processing methods; and finally, the paper performs the empirical analysis and draws a conclusion.

The paper finds that the efficiency of the resource allocation in both regions is unoptimistic, the general efficiency is somewhat low, and it shows the trend of declination. The efficiency of pure technology in two regions represents the adverse trend. Every year's average scale efficiency in both regions is higher than the pure technology efficiency.

The main contributions of this paper include the first use of DEA model to practically evaluate the efficiency of credit investigation system based on 54 samples of RCCs in Hubei Province and the horizontal and vertical comparisons of the results. The conclusions of this paper not only make the efficiency of credit investigation system in the province's 54 credit cooperatives comparable but also has a great application value to the actual decision‐making departments in formulating credit policies, and each credit cooperative in further building the credit investigation system according to its own conditions. Moreover, it has certain reference value to other similar studies.

This study examines the impact of agricultural credit on rice farmers' technical efficiency (TE) in Côte d'Ivoire by considering the heterogeneity among credit sources.

A multistage sampling technique was used to collect data from 588 randomly sampled rice farmers in seven rice areas of the country. The authors use the endogenous stochastic frontier production (ESFP) model to account for the endogeneity of access to agricultural credit.

On the one hand, agricultural credit has a significant and positive impact on rice farmers' TE. Rice farmers receiving agricultural credit have an average of 5% increase in their TE, confirming the positive impact of agricultural credit on TE. On the other hand, the study provides evidence that the impact of credit on rice production efficiency differs depending on the source of credit. Borrowing from agricultural cooperatives and paddy rice buyers/processors positively and significantly influences the TE, while borrowing from microfinance institutions (MFIs) negatively and significantly influences the TE. Moreover, borrowing from relatives/friends does not significantly influence TE.

Future research can further explore the contribution of agricultural credit by including several agricultural productions and using panel data.

The study provides evidence that the impact of agricultural credit on agricultural production efficiency depends on the source of credit. This study contributes to the literature on the impact of agricultural credit and enlightens policymakers in the design of agricultural credit models in developing countries, particularly Côte d'Ivoire.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) Block Farm Credit Programme (BFCP) participation on crop output in four districts in the Northern region of Ghana.

Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 240 beneficiary and non-beneficiary farmers of BFCP. The treatment effect model that accounts for selectivity bias was employed to examine the socioeconomic determinants of farmers’ decision to participate in the BFCP and the effect of BFCP participation on crop output.

Even though the BFCP participation increases output, inadequacy and late delivery of BFCP inputs, low publicity about the programme and difficulty in accessing the inputs from the districts agricultural officers are factors that prevent the full realization of the benefits of the programme. Improving extension services to create more awareness and a re-introduction of the BFCP to make inputs available and affordable to farmers can help boost farm productivity.

The positive effect of the BFCP means that the provision of low-cost production credit has the potential to increase productivity and improve incomes. Hence, MoFA should endeavour up scaling and properly managing the scheme.

This study is the first to evaluate the BFCP in Northern region of Ghana, particularly in relation to its contribution to crop value. The findings are very useful to advise policy by taking account of the programme deficiencies and enhance effectiveness.

This study conducts an empirical analysis of the relationship between credit market conditions and agriculture output in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper uses a two-stage least square instrumental variable and difference generalised method of moments dynamic panel model because potential reverse causation and endogeneity are addressed.

The findings show that better credit market conditions contribute to agriculture productivity. The results also show that better infrastructure and availability of agriculture inputs are associated with productivity improvements. The empirical results are robust when an alternative measure of agriculture productivity is used.

An important research agenda for future studies will be to consider alternative measures of credit market conditions and other intervening variables that influence the nexus. Besides, other methods that account for cross-sectional dependence could also be considered as the impact of credit on agriculture varies across the sub-regions.

The findings make a case for enhancing credit market access to boost agriculture productivity. There is also a need to implement financial education programs for farmers and ensuring continuous engagement with farmers.

Although the issue of agriculture finance has been well documented in the literature, few studies have estimated the elasticity of agriculture productivity to changes in credit conditions. Also, our consideration of the intervening role of infrastructure amongst others is an area that has remained relatively unexplored.