Access to finance and difference in family farm productivity in Benin: Evidence from small farms

• Published in: Scientific African 2021-09, Vol.13, p.e00940, Article e00940
• Main Authors: Acclassato Houensou, Denis, Goudjo, Godefroy G., Senou, Melain Modeste
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access to credit; Agricultural finance; Agricultural productivity; Agricultural sciences; Agriculture, economy and politics; Benin; Esr model; Family farming; Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences; Q12; Q13; Q14
• ISSN: 2468-2276; 2468-2276
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2021.e00940

In most of developing countries, agricultural finance is weak and there is a great constraint for family farmers to access credit. In that context, this article aims to analyze the effect of access to finance on the productivity of smallholders family farmers. Using a rich national representative survey data covering the 2016–2017 agricultural season, we estimated an Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model. The results show that access to credit has a positive impact on the productivity of smallholder farmers, with a gain of 15%. Small farmers manage to achieve a 13% increase in productivity, which is a very significant performance. These findings suggest the establishment of a policy to support small farms, so that they are more productive and more favorable to agricultural growth.