Rural Finance and Smallholder Farming in Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
pp. 486-504
Author(s):  
Guush Berhane ◽  
Kibrom A. Abay
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Information Asymmetry ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Rural Finance ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Rural Economies ◽  
Agriculture Development ◽  
Made In

A well-functioning financial market is important for smallholder agriculture development and for the transformation of rural economies. Yet a substantial proportion of the rural population in Ethiopia remains underserved. The literature points to market failures, attributed to information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers, which affects households’ access to financial services. In the case of credit, this problem is exacerbated by households’ lack of collateral to pledge to access loans. Information asymmetry arises because lenders lack the information needed to screen the creditworthiness of potential borrowers and monitor them after granting loans. Also, serving poor rural communities geographically dispersed involves high transaction costs. Insurance and savings financial services are subject to the same challenges. In response, lenders require collateral that incentivizes borrowers to reduce non-repayment. This chapter documents the progress made in unlocking these challenges and discusses avenues for maximizing the transformational roles of these markets in Ethiopia.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing Microfinance For Effective Smallholder Farming In Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Mago ◽  
Costa Hofisi
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Rural Finance ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Rural Agriculture

Smallholder farmers in Africa desperately need pro-poor interventions to alleviate their poverty through self-sustenance. In Africa, poverty is more prevalent in rural areas, where the overwhelming majority (about 80%) of Africas population lives and about 72% are poor. Microfinance cannot have substantial impact on poverty until it significantly penetrates the rural areas where small-scale agricultural activities by smallholder farmers need financial support. This paper thus attempts to conceptualise microfinance for smallholder farming in Africa which is done from the integrated view as opposed to a minimalist view.The integrated view was selected because it focuses on the provision of credit facilities plus related follow-up services such as training, whilst the minimalist view is concerned about giving credit only. The paper relied on literature review and digestion to conceptualise microfinance as a strategy for boosting smallholder agricultural production. Many rural farmers have no access to the traditional financial system. Therefore, basic financial services are essential for the management of their productive endeavors. This paper argues that microfinance plays a pivotal role in the commercialisation, not only of smallholder farming activities but also the successful implementation of agricultural ideas. Microfinance is one way of helping farmers to sharpen their agricultural ideas so as to promote rural economic development.With this background it has become imperative to explore the commercialisation of rural agriculture so as to empower the farmers. The financial sector in most countries does not cater for rural finance because they require physical collateral security that rural people do not have. In this article, micro-finance is seen to be a useful intervention that can be employed to economically empower the agricultural sector.

scholarly journals Community capacity for creativity based rural development in a developing country. Case studies from Indonesia.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tubagus Furqon Sofhani ◽  
◽  
Fikri Zul Fahmi ◽  
Dika Fajri Fiisabiillah ◽  
Brigitta Sadnya Wulandari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Community Capacity ◽  
Creative Economy ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Rural Economies ◽  
Actor Networks

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which a rural community develops a capacity to support the establishment of a local creative economy despite various limitations. This study employs qualitative research methods in examining two villages in Indonesia, namely Kasongan and Krebet. Our findings show that the community capacity and actor networks potentially spark the development of rural economies. Local communities in both cases have utilized cultures and traditions as creative capitals, which were commercialized through communal entrepreneurship and mobilized by an organized network of creative actors. Social values, namely a strong sense of belonging, high shared values and strong emotional connections, are found to be the key factors that foster creative potentials, entrepreneurial capacity, and capacity for mobilization of local resources within the rural communities

scholarly journals THE NEED FOR STATE INTERVENTION IN THE ECONOMY AND IN PARTICULAR IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR - ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (Suppl.1) ◽  
pp. 440-444
Author(s):  
Darina Stoyanova
Keyword(s):  
Imperfect Competition ◽  
Mixed Type ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The State ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Economic Literature ◽  
Policies And Measures ◽  
Made In

THE PURPOSE of the present research is to examine the main author's opinions regarding the state policy and its intervention in the economy and in particular in the agricultural sector, and on this basis to draw out, systematize and summarize the main directions and arguments for and against the intervention of the state in the economy. METHODS: Based on a literature review should be grouped the different opinions of the authors studied this problem. We should make a comparative analysis of the negative and positive aspects of state intervention on the economy and taking into account the specifics of the agricultural sector. RESULTS: As a result of the research are summarized and analyzed the main tendencies and opinions about the need for state intervention in the economy. CONCLUSIONS: From the analysis made in the study, there is no unambiguous vision in the economic literature regarding the need of state intervention in the economy and agricultural sector. Despite all the arguments that are drawn against the state support, the state through its policies and measures intervenes in the financial and credit markets. Factors have been put forward to support the need of state intervention to prevent market failures such as monopolization of production, imperfect competition and others. Highlighted are examples of highly developed countries where the mixed type of governance and adequate state intervention positively affect the economy.

scholarly journals Losses, Gains, and Changes to the Food Environment in a Rural Kentucky County during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 3929
Author(s):  
Makenzie L. Barr ◽  
Courtney Martin ◽  
Courtney Luecking ◽  
Kathryn Cardarelli
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Home Food Environment ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Fresh Food ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
Home Food ◽  
Community Food Environment ◽  
Made In

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused alterations to be made in the way many people access, prepare, and consume food. Rural communities are particularly impacted due to pre-existing structural vulnerabilities, i.e., poverty, lack of infrastructure, and limited fresh food options. This study aimed to characterize experiences of one rural Appalachian community’s changes to the food environment during the pandemic. In April 2021, six focus groups were conducted with residents of Laurel County, Kentucky. Using grounded theory, we identified losses, gains, and overall changes to the community food environment since the onset of COVID-19. Seventeen Laurel Countians (17 female; ages 30–74) participated in the six focus groups. Three main themes emerged regarding food environment changes—(1) modifications of community food and nutrition resources, (2) expansion and utilization of online food ordering, and (3) implications of the home food environment. Rural communities faced considerable challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, in part, due to gaps in existing infrastructure and loss of pre-existing resources. This study illustrates the complexity of changes occurring during COVID-19. Using the preliminary data obtained, we can better understand pre-existing issues in Laurel County and suggestions for future programming to address the inequitable access and response during public health emergencies and beyond.

Raising the Bar

2017 ◽  
pp. 1623-1637
Author(s):  
Robin R. Hurst ◽  
Julia Tucker Lloyd ◽  
Jennifer C. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Evaluation Strategy ◽  
Evaluation Of Training ◽  
First Time ◽  
Made In

This chapter provides a case study describing the process of using theory in practice in implementing higher level evaluation of training initiatives within one unit of a global financial services organization. The organization has used Kirkpatrick's level one and two evaluations for many years to evaluate training. This case describes the first time a level three evaluation was used, covering why it was necessary, the process for developing, as well as the outcomes of the evaluation. This chapter also describes the influence of organizational culture in the decisions made in the implementation of the evaluation strategy.

Innovative Use of ICT in Namibia for Nationhood

2011 ◽  
pp. 53-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tutaleni I. Asino ◽  
Hilary Wilder ◽  
Sharmila Pixy Ferris
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
National Newspaper ◽  
Landline Telephone ◽  
Made In

Namibia was under colonizing and apartheid rule for more than a century. In 1990, the country declared its independence, and since that time, great strides have been made in linking its rural communities into a national communications Grid that was previously inaccessible to them, often leapfrogging traditional landline telephone technologies with universal cellphone service. In addition, one newspaper, The Namibian, has been innovatively using newer communications technologies to maintain its historic role of nation-building. This study explores the use of SMS via cellphone and a traditional national newspaper in creating a sense of national identity that transcends geographic distances and a legacy of economic/political barriers.. The cell phone messages made it possible for the rural communities who have been left out of discussion relating to issues of development to be included. Like the old slogan, “information is power,” this chapter illustrates that the lives of some rural area dwellers have improved a result of a technological gadget, the mobile phone.

Protecting the entrepreneurial poor: A human rights approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 336-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jahel Queralt
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Shadow Economy ◽  
Working Poor ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Policy Uncertainty ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Bundle Of Rights

Half of the working poor in developing countries are informal entrepreneurs – they make a living by engaging in commercial activities in the shadow economy. A series of government and market failures – for example, corruption, policy uncertainty, and barriers in access to financial services – limit the productivity of informal businesses and condemn their owners to remain poor. This article offers a normative analysis of this problem and makes a twofold contribution. First, it argues that some institutional obstacles that push the entrepreneurial poor toward informality are a violation of a bundle of rights that we can refer as entrepreneurial rights. Second, it claims that these rights ought to be recognized as legal human rights because of their value to realize individual autonomy and to satisfy the basic need to engage in production.

Promoting China’s Inclusive Finance Through Digital Financial Services

2020 ◽  
pp. 097215091989534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Morshadul Hasan ◽  
Lu Yajuan ◽  
Shajib Khan
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
Personal Account ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Present World ◽  
Practical Impact ◽  
Made In

While much progress has been made in promoting inclusive finance through the ownership of a basic personal account, billions of people in developed and emerging markets are still underrepresented in financial services. Also, they are unable to contribute to the provision of better access to financial services. The purpose of this study was defined as to explore the contribution of digital financial services (DFSs) in promoting inclusive finance in China. This study presents a theoretical discussion on how DFSs play an important role in promoting China’s inclusive finance. This study uses the systematic review method of qualitative sampling to achieve the goal of this study. Different forces play different roles behind the promotion of inclusive finance. However, DFSs are considered to be one of the most influential forces in the development of inclusive finance in the present world. Many examples of how DFS can improve inclusive finance are discussed in the literature. In addition, different contributions to DFS usage are presented here to achieve the objectives of this study. The contents of the study contributed to a better understanding of the practical impact and implication of DFS tools in transforming the financial sector. In this study, first, a structured review method is followed; second, most important discussion on the contribution of DFS in promoting inclusive finance is presented and third, the relation between the topic and related research is identified.

scholarly journals Beneficiary Views on Cash and In-Kind Payments: Evidence from Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalle Hirvonen ◽  
John Hoddinott
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
Stated Preferences ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Food Markets ◽  
Made In

Abstract Economists often default to the assumption that cash is always preferable to an in-kind transfer. Do beneficiaries feel the same way? This paper addresses this issue using longitudinal household data from Ethiopia, where a large-scale social safety net intervention (PSNP) operates. Even though most payments are made in cash, and even though the (temporal) transaction costs associated with food payments are higher than payments received as cash, most beneficiaries stated that they prefer their payments only or partly in food. Higher food prices induce shifts in stated preferences toward in-kind transfers. More food-secure households, those closer to food markets and to financial services are more likely to prefer cash. Though shifts occur, the stated preference for food is dominant: In no year do more than 17 percent of households prefer only cash. There is suggestive evidence that stated preferences for food are also driven by self-control concerns.

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