Purpose

This study is conducted to evaluate the impact of rural credit on farm household income and food security.

Design/methodology/approach

A multistage random sampling procedure is implemented to select 180 (82 credit user and 98 non-credit user) households from Kurfa Chele district, eastern Ethiopia. The Propensity Score Matching technique is used to estimate the impact of credit utilization on the welfare indicators.

Findings

The results of the econometric model estimation show that participation in the rural credit program was positively influenced by a household's educational status, family size, voluntary saving and participation in training related to credit and saving. On the contrary, livestock holding and extension advice were found to negatively affect participation. Furthermore, participation in rural credit program is found to increase annual income by 59% and calorie intake by 21%. These are significant results implying that participation in the rural credit and saving program improved household welfare in the study area.

Originality/value

This study is important because it shows the welfare impact of making credit program available to potential users in the study area. Moreover, for effectiveness of the credit program it is necessary to target households with relatively larger family size and those with relatively better education (to induce change among the wider farming community). It is also essential to focus on the saving behavior of the program beneficiaries and enhancing the management system by ensuring that sufficient development agents are in place.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚东部 Kurfa Chele 区农村信贷和储蓄计划对福利的影响：倾向得分匹配估计

目的

本研究旨在评估农村信贷对农户收入和粮食安全的影响。

设计/方法/方法

实施多阶段随机抽样程序以从埃塞俄比亚东部的库尔法切莱区选择 180 个（82 个信贷用户和 98 个非信贷用户）家庭。倾向得分匹配技术用于估计信贷利用对福利指标的影响。

发现

计量经济模型估计的结果表明，农村信贷计划的参与受到家庭教育状况、家庭规模、自愿储蓄以及参与与信贷和储蓄相关的培训的积极影响。相反，发现牲畜饲养和推广建议会对参与产生负面影响。此外，发现参与农村信贷计划可使年收入增加 59%，卡路里摄入量增加 21%。这些重要的结果意味着参与农村信贷和储蓄计划改善了研究区域的家庭福利。

原创性/价值

这项研究很重要，因为它显示了向研究区域的潜在用户提供信贷计划的福利影响。此外，为了信贷计划的有效性，有必要针对家庭规模相对较大和教育程度相对较好的家庭（以在更广泛的农业社区中引发变化）。还必须关注计划受益人的储蓄行为，并通过确保有足够的开发代理到位来增强管理系统。