Purpose

The study aims to estimate the rates of exposure to, and adoption of, rural bank credit programs by smallholder farmers in rural Ghana and the factors responsible for those rates.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a random sample of 300 smallholder farmers in the Fanteakwa District of Ghana, obtained through the multistage sampling technique. The study also employed the average treatment effects approach to estimate the average treatment effect of farmers’ exposure to rural bank credit programs, on their adoption of such programs.

Findings

The actual adoption rate is approximately 41%, and the potential, conditional on the whole population being aware of rural bank credit programs, is approximately 61%. Accordingly, there is a gap of about 20% in the adoption of rural bank credit programs, and is due to the incomplete exposure of smallholder farmers to the rural bank credit programs. Age of the household head, access to extension services, membership in farmer-based organizations and active savings accounts with a rural bank are the major contributors to smallholder farmer exposure to and the adoption of rural bank credit programs.

Originality/value

The current study is the first of its kind to be conducted in Ghana on rural bank credit programs. It takes into account the extent to which smallholder farmers are exposed to such credit programs and how it influences their decisions to access or adopt.

中文翻译：

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加纳小农采用农村银行信贷计划：暴露率和采用率及其决定因素的平均处理效果估计

目的

该研究旨在估计加纳农村小农接触和采用农村银行信贷计划的比率以及造成这些比率的因素。

设计/方法/方法

该研究使用了通过多阶段抽样技术获得的加纳 Fanteakwa 区 300 名小农的随机样本。该研究还采用平均处理效果法来估计农民接触农村银行信贷计划对其采用此类计划的平均处理效果。

发现

实际采用率约为 41%，在全民了解农村银行信贷计划的条件下，潜在采用率约为 61%。因此，农村银行信贷计划的采用存在约 20% 的差距，这是由于小农对农村银行信贷计划的接触不完全所致。户主的年龄、获得推广服务的机会、农民组织的成员资格以及在农村银行的活跃储蓄账户是小农接触和采用农村银行信贷计划的主要因素。

原创性/价值

目前的研究是在加纳对农村银行信贷计划进行的第一次此类研究。它考虑了小农在多大程度上接触到此类信贷计划，以及它如何影响他们获得或采用的决定。