Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines
Poverty level remains high (36.7%) in agricultural areas in the Philippines. The second poorest province in the Philippines is Agusan del Sur with incidence reaching as high as 51.2%. One of the approaches to alleviate poverty is to provide access to capital through microfinance. This study draws co...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Asian Economic and Social Society
2013
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| Online Access: | http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aessrd:198157 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15339 |
| _version_ | 1848748866661253120 |
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| author | Sarmiento, Jon Ellson, A. Traje, A. Manzano, G. Comidoy, S. |
| author_facet | Sarmiento, Jon Ellson, A. Traje, A. Manzano, G. Comidoy, S. |
| author_sort | Sarmiento, Jon |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Poverty level remains high (36.7%) in agricultural areas in the Philippines. The second poorest province in the Philippines is Agusan del Sur with incidence reaching as high as 51.2%. One of the approaches to alleviate poverty is to provide access to capital through microfinance. This study draws conclusion on the link between access to microfinance and farm production taking the municipality of San Francisco in Agusan del Sur as a case. A total of 95 rice farmers were interviewed. Data revealed that microfinance client farmers were producing 27% more than non-client farmers. The production data were fitted using five production functions namely; (1) Neoclassical, (2) Neoclassical with interaction, (3) Cobb-Douglas, (4) Transcendental and (5) Transcendental with interaction. Using ordinary least squares method, Neoclassical function best fit the data with access to microfinance significantly improving farm production by 23%. Output was most responsive to land (0.60 elasticity (E)), followed by fertilizer (0.18 E), labor (0.14 E), herbicide (0.12 E), seed (0.02 E) and pesticide use (0.00 E). Irrigated farms were 23% more productive than non-irrigated farms. Despite the positive impact of access to microfinance, only 34% of the farmers had availed agricultural microfinance loan from formal institutions while only 18% took advantage during the 2nd season of 2010 rice production. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:11:51Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-15339 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:11:51Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Asian Economic and Social Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-153392017-01-30T11:49:13Z Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines Sarmiento, Jon Ellson, A. Traje, A. Manzano, G. Comidoy, S. Rice farming Microfinance Production Function Modeling Ordinary Least Squares Poverty level remains high (36.7%) in agricultural areas in the Philippines. The second poorest province in the Philippines is Agusan del Sur with incidence reaching as high as 51.2%. One of the approaches to alleviate poverty is to provide access to capital through microfinance. This study draws conclusion on the link between access to microfinance and farm production taking the municipality of San Francisco in Agusan del Sur as a case. A total of 95 rice farmers were interviewed. Data revealed that microfinance client farmers were producing 27% more than non-client farmers. The production data were fitted using five production functions namely; (1) Neoclassical, (2) Neoclassical with interaction, (3) Cobb-Douglas, (4) Transcendental and (5) Transcendental with interaction. Using ordinary least squares method, Neoclassical function best fit the data with access to microfinance significantly improving farm production by 23%. Output was most responsive to land (0.60 elasticity (E)), followed by fertilizer (0.18 E), labor (0.14 E), herbicide (0.12 E), seed (0.02 E) and pesticide use (0.00 E). Irrigated farms were 23% more productive than non-irrigated farms. Despite the positive impact of access to microfinance, only 34% of the farmers had availed agricultural microfinance loan from formal institutions while only 18% took advantage during the 2nd season of 2010 rice production. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15339 http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aessrd:198157 Asian Economic and Social Society restricted |
| spellingShingle | Rice farming Microfinance Production Function Modeling Ordinary Least Squares Sarmiento, Jon Ellson, A. Traje, A. Manzano, G. Comidoy, S. Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines |
| title | Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines |
| title_full | Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines |
| title_fullStr | Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines |
| title_short | Does Access to Microfinance Improve Farm Production? Evidence from Rice Farmers in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines |
| title_sort | does access to microfinance improve farm production? evidence from rice farmers in san francisco, agusan del sur, philippines |
| topic | Rice farming Microfinance Production Function Modeling Ordinary Least Squares |
| url | http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aessrd:198157 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15339 |