While significant progress in microcredit and microfinance has been made in low‐income countries, lending for small farming enterprises has been limited. This article reviews how innovative index‐based risk‐transfer products (IBRTPs) can be used to transfer the correlated natural disaster...

The moral hazard problem which obstructs external equity financing of farm businesses is studied using the principal‐agent framework. We assume that the supplier of external equity capital (the principal) cannot directly observe the farmer’s (agent’s) effort, but can observe the random...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how debt affects the cost structure of a farm. Agency costs arise when stakeholders of a farm manage their farm differently to obtain debt which results in inefficiencies. These inefficiencies cause a farm to deviate from cost minimization...

Purpose – The purpose of this research is examine the development of livestock mortality insurance, and associated challenges, in order to provide an improved understanding regarding the operation of livestock mortality insurance. Design/methodology/approach – In a many countries, livestock...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a discussion on the idea of “policy rationing”. Policy rationing refers to constraining impacts on farm credit through policy action or inaction. To present the ideas the author discusses ten themes in policy rationing, ranging from...

Purpose – In this paper, the authors set out to establish if there is a link between finance and economic growth in rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relation between credit by major lenders in rural areas – commercial banks and Farm Credit System (FCS) institutions...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of risk rationing among potential rural borrowers in Mexico and China. Design/methodology/approach – Using primary survey data from 730 farm households in the Shaanxi province of China and from 372 farmers in northeastern Mexico,...

Purpose In order to improve the assessment of current lending policies for a microfinance institution (MFI) in Azerbaijan, the purpose of this paper is to analyse how lending conditions are adjusted based on knowledge gains during the loan relationship, with particular attention to delays in...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider how the federal crop insurance (FCI) program influences farm debt use, one of the key financial decisions made by farm operators. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from the nationally representative Agricultural Resource Management...