Influence of Agricultural Credit on Farmer Housewife Empowerment

Abstract

     This study aimed to investigate the influence of agricultural credit and factors effecting farmer housewife empowerment of those who were customers of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) in Banglen district, Nakhon Pathom province. The data were obtained from interviewing 403 farmer housewives using a questionnaire and the data set was analyzed via binary logit models. The empowerment data was classified into 5 dimensions consisting of 26 indicators in total. The analysis results revealed that gender, age, education level, occupation, net income, off-farm income, the level of agricultural credit from the BAAC, duration of being a BAAC customer, and the number of loans had a positive influence on farmer housewife empowerment. On the other hand, the dependency ratio, proportion of hired land, and borrowing from other funding sources had a negative influence on farmer housewife empowerment. Therefore, the results suggest that the BAAC should increase the opportunity for farmers to access credit and should also increase the amount of credit to reduce the need to borrow from other sources, especially illegal ones. Accessibility to credit would increase both farm and off-farm incomes to the household, which would lead to sustainable development in the future. In short, this study points that agricultural credit plays a crucial role in agricultural development and farmer housewife empowerment.