Study on Access to Agricultural Credit Among Smallholder Tobacco Farmers in Mangochi, Malawi.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to assess the access of agricultural credit among smallholder tobacco farmers in Mangochi, Malawi. Government reports and past studies related to the topic were used as secondary data. Random sampling approach was adopted to collect primary data from 91 smallholder tobacco farmers in Mthiramanja area, Mangochi. The results of the study showed that farmers who are in contractual agreement with leaf buyers had higher chance of getting agriculture credit than independent farmers. The majority farmers complained that borrowing is very expensive and do not match the income realized from their farming operations. It is suggest the government should put in place policies that will allow smallholder farmers easily access agriculture credit at minimum cost. Providing financial education to farmers will help them to use the loan for its intended purpose hence increasing quality and quantity of outputs.

Keywords

• Agricultural credit,Tobacco farming,Malawi

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