Agricultural Finance. Agriculture is the backbone of many economies across the world, providing food and raw materials for industries. However, financing agriculture is often a challenging task due to the high risk and uncertainty involved in agricultural production. Agricultural finance is the process of providing financial resources to farmers, agribusinesses, and rural communities to support their agricultural activities. In this blog post, we will explore the types of agricultural finance and sources of agricultural finance.
Types of Agricultural Finance:
- Production finance: This type of finance is used to fund the production activities of farmers such as buying inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.), paying for labour, and renting machinery. Production finance is short-term and is usually repaid after the harvest.
- Marketing Finance: This type of finance is used to support the marketing activities of farmers. It helps farmers to store, process, and transport their produce to the market. Marketing finance is also short-term and is repaid after the sale of the produce.
- Infrastructure finance: This type of finance is used to fund infrastructure projects in rural areas, such as building dams, irrigation systems, and rural roads. Infrastructure finance is usually long-term and has a low-interest rate.
- Insurance: Agriculture is a high-risk business due to the unpredictable nature of weather and other factors. Agricultural insurance provides protection to farmers against natural disasters such as droughts, floods, and pests.
Sources of Agricultural Finance:
- Commercial Banks: Commercial banks are the primary source of agricultural finance in many countries. They provide short-term and long-term loans to farmers and agribusinesses. Commercial banks also offer financial services such as savings accounts, insurance, and investment options.
- Development Banks: Development banks are specialized financial institutions that provide long-term loans to fund infrastructure projects and other development initiatives in rural areas. They offer lower interest rates and longer repayment periods than commercial banks.
- Microfinance Institutions: Microfinance institutions provide small loans to farmers and rural entrepreneurs who do not have access to traditional banking services. They also offer financial education and training to help farmers manage their finances effectively.
- Government Agencies: Many governments have established agricultural financing agencies to provide financial support to farmers and agribusinesses. These agencies offer loans, grants, subsidies, and other financial incentives to encourage agricultural production.
In conclusion, agricultural finance plays a critical role in supporting agricultural activities and rural development. Farmers and agribusinesses require financial resources to produce, market and transport their products. The sources of agricultural finance are diverse and include commercial banks, development banks, microfinance institutions, and government agencies. Understanding the types of agricultural finance and sources of agricultural finance can help farmers and agribusinesses to access the financial resources they need to succeed.
Problems Of Agricultural Finance
Agricultural finance is crucial for the growth and development of the agricultural sector. However, agricultural finance faces several challenges that hinder its effectiveness in supporting farmers and agribusinesses. In this blog post, we will explore some of the problems of agricultural finance.
- Lack of Access to Finance: One of the major challenges facing agricultural finance is the lack of access to finance by farmers and agribusinesses. Many financial institutions are reluctant to lend to farmers and agribusinesses due to the high risk and uncertainty associated with agricultural production.
- High-Interest Rates: Another problem of agricultural finance is the high-interest rates charged by financial institutions. The high-interest rates make it difficult for farmers and agribusinesses to access finance and repay loans.
- Short-Term Finance: Most agricultural finance is short-term, which is not suitable for the long-term nature of agricultural production. Farmers and agribusinesses require long-term finance to invest in irrigation systems, storage facilities, and other infrastructure that supports agricultural production.
- Lack of Collateral: Financial institutions often require collateral to secure loans. However, many farmers and agribusinesses do not have the necessary collateral to secure loans, which limits their access to finance.
- Seasonal Fluctuations: Agriculture is a seasonal business, with production and income fluctuating throughout the year. This makes it difficult for farmers and agribusinesses to repay loans within a fixed timeframe.
- Lack of Financial Education: Farmers and agribusinesses often lack financial literacy and management skills. This makes it difficult for them to manage their finances effectively and access finance.
- Insufficient Government Support: Government policies and support are crucial for the growth and development of agricultural finance. However, many governments do not provide adequate support for agricultural finance, which limits its effectiveness in supporting farmers and agribusinesses.
In conclusion, agricultural finance is essential for the growth and development of the agricultural sector. However, it faces several challenges that hinder its effectiveness in supporting farmers and agribusinesses. Addressing these challenges requires collaboration between financial institutions, governments, and other stakeholders to improve access to finance, reduce interest rates, provide long-term finance, and improve financial literacy and management skills.
MEANING OF AGRICULTURAL FINANCE AND CREDIT
Agricultural finance is defined as the act of acquisition and use of capital in agriculture. In other words, it deals with the supply of and demand for funds in the agricultural sector of the economy.
IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURAL FINANCE
(i) It enables farmers to meet seasonal and annual fluctuations in income and expenditure.
(ii) It enables farmers to adjust to changing economic conditions
(iii) It also increases the efficiency of the farmers.
(iv) It enables the farmers to increase the size of his farm.
(v) It helps to protect against adverse conditions on the farm
(vi) It enables farmers to acquire more farm inputs for increased production.
SOURCES OF FARM FINANCE
Farmers can get credit or loans to finance their farming business through any of the following sources:
(1)
Agricultural bank
An agricultural bank such as the Nigeria Agricultural and Cooperative Bank (N.A.C.B) was established in 1973 to grant loans to all potential farmers. Only farmers can borrow money from the bank, hence it is called the “Farmers Bank”.
Commercial Bank
Commercial banks are major sources of lending to agriculture. Banks like First Bank, U.B.A, and Union Bank have agricultural departments where farmers can get loans to carry out their farming activities.
Supervised agricultural credit scheme
This scheme was set up with the purpose of granting loans to farmers. The scheme is supervised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Thrift and saving societies
Members contribute money either daily, weekly or monthly. At the end of an agreed period, the money is paid back to the members which they can use for their farming activities.
Money lenders
These are people who lend out their money to farmers to enable them to produce. However, the money lenders will charge a high-interest rates and demand security for such loans.
(6)
Cooperative societies
These are the people who come together to pull their resources (money) together to produce. Members can easily get loans from societies. Apart from this, commercial banks prefer to give loans to cooperative societies than individual farmers.
Government agencies
Farmers can easily get loans from certain government agencies like the National Directorate for Employment (N.D.E) and Agricultural Development Projects (A.D.P) for their farming activities.
(9)
Self-finance
This refers to the money saved by an individual which can be used to finance his farming activities.
Individual
Farmers can also borrow money from individuals like friends and relatives to finance a project.
Insurance companies
(12) Insurance companies are an important source of credit in Nigeria. They mostly give long-term and immediate loans for the purchase of equipment. They obtain financial resources from policyholders and use excess liquidity to provide credit to farmers.
(13)
(14)
Micro-finance banks
Micro-finance bank is about providing financial services to the poor who are traditionally not served by conventional financial institutions. Three features that distinguish micro-finance from other formal financial products are the smallness of loans advanced, the absence of asset-based collateral and the simplicity of operation.
(15)
International Development Agencies (IDAs)
IDAs like World Bank, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and United Nation Development Agricultural Development (IFAD) also give financial assistance to qualified farmers in Nigeria.
limited liability companies
WEED AND THEIR BOTANICAL NAMES
1. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
2. DISEASES
3. 52. SOIL MICRO-ORGANISMS
4. ORGANIC MANURING
5. FARM YARD MANURE
6. HUMUGRAZING AND OVER GRAZING
10. IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGES
7. COMPOST
8. CROP ROTATION
9.
11. IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
12. ORGANIC MANURING
13. FARM YARD MANURE
14. HUMUS
15. COMPOST
16. CROP ROTATION
