Credit Demand Among Small Farmers: A District Level Approach, Pakistan

In the current study, determinants of credit demand among small farmers in the Mandi Bahauddin district of Pakistan were investigated. For this purpose, interviews with 123 small farmers in six villages of this district were conducted. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to examine factors that affect credit demands. Seven determinants were devised and tested, and a probit model was employed to analyze the effects of education, household size, and income on the credit demand. Through qualitative methods, factors like informal lending, interest rate, consumption smoothing, and transaction cost were analyzed. It was noted that informal borrowing, higher interest rates, and high transaction costs crowded out formal lending. A positive correlation was observed between education and credit demand. Household size and all types of incomes did not significantly correlate with credit demand.

本研究针对巴基斯坦曼迪巴哈乌丁（Mandi Bahauddin）地区的小型农户信贷需求影响因素展开调研。为此，研究团队对该辖区6个村庄的123名小型农户开展了访谈。本研究同时采用定性与定量研究方法，对影响农户信贷需求的各类因素进行系统剖析：研究设定并检验了七项影响因子，并采用概率单位模型（Probit Model）分析了受教育程度、家庭规模与收入水平对信贷需求的作用效果。通过定性研究方法，本研究还对非正规借贷、利率、消费平滑及交易成本等因素进行了分析。研究发现，非正规借贷、高利率与高额交易成本会挤出正规信贷供给。此外，研究观察到农户受教育程度与信贷需求呈显著正相关关系，但家庭规模与各类收入水平均未与信贷需求呈现显著相关性。