Assessment of rural credit impact on land and labor productivity for Brazilian family farmers

Abstract

Resumo AbstractThe objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of rural credit on land and labor productivity for Brazilian family farmers and assess factors infl uencing the rural credit approval process. The study employs data contained in the 2006 Brazilian Municipality Agricultural Census and a "trade index" (TI) specifi cally constructed to differentiate family farmers. The impact of credit on land and labor productivity was calculated by comparing the productivity of a group of family farmers that received credit with the productivity of a group of family farmers that were credit restricted. The groups were constructed with the aid of propensity score matching. When statistically signifi cant, the average effect of credit was found to increase the recipient's productivity of land and labor. It was also found that productivity increases due to the use of credit aligned with the level of the family farmer's integration into the commercial market and, therefore, one credit policy does not fi t for all Brazilian family farmers.Keywords family farming; trade index; rural credit; propensity score matching. JEL Codes R15. Assessment of rural credit impact on land and labor productivity for Brazilian family farmersImpacto do acesso ao crédito rural na produtivididade da terra e do trabalho para agricultores familiares brasileiros

Rural credit and the time allocation of agricultural households: The case of PRONAF in Brazil

“…Our findings are in line with the evidence that PRONAF increases the productivity of land and labor, as found by Garcias & Kassouf (). There is also evidence that microcredit in general can increase labor participation and generate extra income, although, as discussed by Haile et al.…”

“…Our findings are in line with the evidence that PRONAF increases the productivity of land and labor, as found by Garcias & Kassouf (2016). There is also evidence that microcredit in general can increase labor participation and generate extra income, although, as discussed by Haile et al (2012), Note: This table contains the results of the estimation of the effect of PRONAF on the time allocation of all male heads of family and female partners in the sample described in Table 1.…”

Does Access to Rural Credit Help Decrease Income Inequality in Brazil?

“…It also makes us consider that access to credit is not achieving one of its intended goals. In Brazil, public policies on rural credit availability also aim to raise rural income by providing rural households with the opportunity to acquire more inputs, access new technologies, and reduce market imperfection effects (Alves et al, 2013;Leite, 2013;Hartarska et al, 2015;Garcias and Kassouf, 2016).…”

“…Rural credit has been used as one of the main instruments to incentivize agricultural production (Alves, 1993;Bacha, Danelon and Belson, 2005;Araújo, 2011;Garcias and Kassouf, 2016).…”

Political debates and agricultural policies: Discourse coalitions behind the creation of Brazil’s Pronaf

“…The conflicts between productivity increase and poverty reduction, farm businesses and peasants, export crops and products for internal consumption, along with the issue of 'land struggle', were at the core of these debates (Welch and Sauer, 2015). Due to its impact on Brazilian agriculture, the resulting agricultural support policy has been extensively analysed in the literature (Flexor and Grisa, 2016;Garcias and Kassouf, 2016;Gazolla and Schneider, 2013;Leite, 2015;Resende and Martins Mafra, 2016). However, the political dynamics behind these significant changes to the norm have been studied much less.…”