Evaluating the Impact of Agricultural Credit Access on Smallholder Maize Farmers’ Productivity in the Northwest Region of Cameroon

Claudette Mengui Khan and Seung Gyu Kim ()
Additional contact information
Claudette Mengui Khan: Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Regional Development, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Seung Gyu Kim: Department of Food and Resource Economics, Institute of Regional Development, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Food insecurity and poverty persist in Sub-Saharan Africa, largely driven by low agricultural productivity linked to limited credit access. This study investigates the effect of credit access on the productivity of smallholder maize farmers in Northwest Cameroon. Using cross-sectional data from 404 interviews and an endogenous switching regression model to address self-selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity, we show that access to credit significantly improves maize yields. However, credit access remains limited and is negatively influenced by farmer experience and group membership, while extension services and agricultural training enhance access. We recommend targeted financial support and capacity building to improve credit uptake and boost productivity in the maize sector.

Keywords: credit access; smallholder maize farmers; productivity impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7574/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7574/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:7574-:d:1730166

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().