Access to credit is a key prerequisite for the development of smallholder agriculture. However, rural credit markets are typically characterized by market failures and smallholder credit access is limited. Resource-providing contracts are an institutional tool to overcome credit market failures through the provision of production inputs in the form of in-kind credit. Previous research has shown that interlinkage of contract and credit helps farmers overcome financial constraints, foster production investments, and hence increase productivities and income. However, if and how such contract schemes affect farmers' overall demand for and access to formal credit from other sources is not yet well understood. In this article, we therefore investigate the associations of the provision of in-kind credit and farming households' formal credit demand and ability to receive formal credit. We use data of 463 oil palm producers in Ghana and show that participation in contract farming is associated with an increase in credit demand. Concerning credit approval, we find that the outstanding debt of the in-kind credit scheme is associated with a substantially lower likelihood of credit acceptance. However, the results also suggest that farmers can fully compensate this negative effect by informing the bank about the contract, and thus the source of the debt. This indicates that debt acquired from resource-providing contract schemes does not necessarily pose an additional credit constraint to farmers. [EconLit Citation G21, G23, O16, O17].

中文翻译：

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通过合同农业和正规信贷市场提供实物信贷

获得信贷是发展小农农业的关键先决条件。然而，农村信贷市场的典型特征是市场失灵，小农信贷渠道有限。资源提供合同是通过以实物信贷形式提供生产投入来克服信贷市场失灵的制度性工具。先前的研究表明，合同和信贷的相互联系有助于农民克服财务限制，促进生产投资，从而提高生产力和收入。然而，此类合同计划是否以及如何影响农民对其他来源的正式信贷的总体需求和获得途径尚不清楚。因此，在本文中，我们调查了实物信贷提供与农户的关联。正规信贷需求和获得正规信贷的能力。我们使用加纳 463 家油棕生产商的数据，表明参与合同农业与信贷需求增加有关。关于信贷审批，我们发现实物信贷计划的未偿债务与信贷接受的可能性大大降低有关。然而，结果还表明，农民可以通过告知银行合同以及债务来源来完全补偿这种负面影响。这表明从资源提供合同计划中获得的债务并不一定会给农民带来额外的信贷约束。[EconLit 引文 G21、G23、O16、O17]。我们使用加纳 463 家油棕生产商的数据，表明参与合同农业与信贷需求增加有关。关于信贷审批，我们发现实物信贷计划的未偿债务与信贷接受的可能性大大降低有关。然而，结果还表明，农民可以通过告知银行合同以及债务来源来完全补偿这种负面影响。这表明从资源提供合同计划中获得的债务并不一定会给农民带来额外的信贷约束。[EconLit 引文 G21、G23、O16、O17]。我们使用加纳 463 家油棕生产商的数据，表明参与合同农业与信贷需求增加有关。关于信贷审批，我们发现实物信贷计划的未偿债务与信贷接受的可能性大大降低有关。然而，结果还表明，农民可以通过告知银行合同以及债务来源来完全补偿这种负面影响。这表明从资源提供合同计划中获得的债务并不一定会给农民带来额外的信贷约束。[EconLit 引文 G21、G23、O16、O17]。然而，结果还表明，农民可以通过告知银行合同以及债务来源来完全补偿这种负面影响。这表明从资源提供合同计划中获得的债务并不一定会给农民带来额外的信贷约束。[EconLit 引文 G21、G23、O16、O17]。然而，结果还表明，农民可以通过告知银行合同以及债务来源来完全补偿这种负面影响。这表明从资源提供合同计划中获得的债务并不一定会给农民带来额外的信贷约束。[EconLit 引文 G21、G23、O16、O17]。