Identifying Credit Accessibility Mechanisms for Conservation Agriculture Farmers in Cambodia

Punlork Men (), Lyda Hok, Panchit Seeniang, B. Jan Middendorf and Rapee Dokmaithes ()
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Punlork Men: Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Faculty of Agriculture at Kamphaeng Saen, Kasetsart University, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand
Lyda Hok: Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Faculty of Agriculture at Kamphaeng Saen, Kasetsart University, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand
Panchit Seeniang: Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Faculty of Agriculture at Kamphaeng Saen, Kasetsart University, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand
B. Jan Middendorf: Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification (SIIL), Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
Rapee Dokmaithes: Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Faculty of Agriculture at Kamphaeng Saen, Kasetsart University, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-26

Abstract: As the expected cost of conservation agriculture (CA) inputs becomes an issue for farmers, financial institutions (FIs) play an essential role in promoting CA, a set of agricultural management practices with multiple positive effects. This research aimed to determine influencing factors, to rank challenges, and identify mechanisms for farmers to access agricultural credit for adoption of CA management practices in Cambodia. It was administered by conducting a survey of 242 randomly selected households for face-to-face interviews and conducting key informant interviews from purposive samples of 28 participants in Battambang and Preah Vihear provinces. The results indicated that influencing factors, including the family, adult labor and total farm size, had a positive relationship with farmers’ accessibility to agricultural credit, whereas age was negative. However, education year, farm size for main crops, on-farm income and farm experience were not significantly associated. High interest rates were the significant first-order challenge ranked, followed by document process complication, limited agricultural credit information, limited collateral security and a few other challenges. Support and improved process mechanisms to enhance credit accessibility are required to engage with multiple stakeholders, including farmers, FIs, non-government organizations (NGOs) and government officers. There has been a reduction in agricultural credit interest rates and incentives for importing CA inputs by the government, while provision of information support for agribusiness plans by NGOs which have implemented development project activities were considered as the main support mechanism. An improved process mechanism at the farmers’ level needs to include access to credit with low interest rates and a straightforward documentation process, whereas the FI level requires a business plan for lending decisions. It is evident that high lending rates hinder access to agricultural credit and the improvement of support and improved process mechanisms are necessary to better promote CA practices among farmers in Cambodia.

Keywords: conservation agriculture practices; financial institutions; agricultural credit accessibility; support mechanism; process mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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