Lack of Access to Formal Agricultural Credit and Insurance

Access to agricultural credit is linked to the holding of land titles. As a result, small and marginal farmers, who account for more than half of the total land holdings, and may not hold formal land titles, are unable to access institutionalized credit.

• Farmers may require credit for short term uses such as purchasing inputs, weeding, harvesting, sorting and transporting, or long term uses such as investing in agricultural machinery and equipment, or irrigation.
• Farmers with land holdings of less than a hectare primarily borrow from informal sources of credit such as moneylenders (41%), whereas those with land holdings of two or ....