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Research Article
Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance of Smallholder
Farmers in Horro and Abay Choman woredas of Horoguduru-
Wollega Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
*1Amsalu File, 2Oliyad Sori
1Wollega University, The Campus’s Finance Head, P.O. Box 38, Ethiopia
2Wollega University, Department of Agricultural Economics, P.O. Box 38, Ethiopia
Credit repayment is one of the dominant importance for viable financial institutions. This study
was aimed to identify determinants of loan repayment capacity of smallholder farmers in Horro
and Abay-Chomen Woredas. The study used primary data from a sample of formal credit borrower
farmers in the two woredas through structured questionnaire. A total of 120 farm households were
interviewed during data collection and secondary data were collected from different
organizations. The logit model results indicated that a total of fourteen explanatory variables were
included in the model of which six variables were found to be significant.; among these variables,
family size and expenditure in social ceremonies negatively while, credit experience, livestock,
extension contact and income from off-farm activities positively influenced the loan repayment
performance of smallholder farmers in the study areas. Based on the result, the study
recommended that the lending institution should give attention on loan supervision and
management while the borrowers should give attention on generating alternative source of
income to pay the loans which is vital as it provides information that would enable to undertake
effective measures with the aim of improving loan repayment in the study area.
Key words: Loan repayment performance, Smallholder farmers, logit model, Horro and Abbay Chomen Woredas
INTRODUCTION
The economic growth of developing countries depends to productivity among the resource poor farmers. However,
a great extent on the growth of the agricultural sector. lack of financial resource is one of the major problems
Ethiopia is one example of a developing country, facing poor households. Formal financial institutions are
characterized by a predominantly subsistence agrarian inefficient and inaccessible in providing credit facilities to
economy. The nature of farming in Ethiopia is dominated the poor. Delivering productive credit, low cost, efficient
by traditional micro holdings of the subsistence type, with credit services and recovering a high percentage of loans
less than two hectares of land being the average holding granted are the ideal aims in rural finance (Wenner, 2015).
(CSA, 2015). Over the last four decades the international donor
agencies and governments of less developing countries
The use of credit has been envisaged as one way of have spent billions of dollars on projects, rapidly
promoting technology transfer, while the use of expanding the volume of agricultural loan and the number
recommended farm inputs is regarded as key to of rural institutions (Adams and Graham, 2011).
agricultural development (Tomoya M. and Takashi, 2010).
(Medhin, 2015 and Million, 2014) have indicated that credit
is the largest source of farm capital in Ethiopia. Agricultural
credit has a key role for the development of different
sectors (Sileshi 2014, Tomoya and Takashi, 2010). *Corresponding Author: Amsalu File, Wollega
University, The Campus’s Finance Head, P.O. Box 38,
The provision of sustainable formal credit for agricultural Ethiopia. E-mail: amsemijena@gmail.com
inputs is one of the most effective strategies for improving Co-Author Email: oliyadsorizen@gmail.com
Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance of Smallholder Farmers in Horro and Abay Choman woredas of HoroguduruWollega Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
File and Sori 649
The Loans taken from credit institutions vary from country Guduru woredas, from East by Hababo Guduru woreda,
to country, region to region, sector to sector. But farmers from the West by Abe Dongoro woreda. Shambu and
in the developing countries have been identified as the Fincha town. Horro and Abay Chomen woredas are
most defaulting group of credit beneficiaries. While credit comprised of the three main agro-ecological zones
remains the largest source of farm capital, prospective namely, Woina Dega (moderate), Dega (cool) and Kola.
borrowers are denied access to credit by financial Woina Dega Zone lies almost at the middle of the Woredas
institutions as a result of high loan delinquency among itself and having the average elevation between 1500-
farmers. This phenomenon does not only reduce farmer 2400 meters above the sea levels. There are different
productivity but contributes also to dwindling household crops produced in the study area’s agro-ecological zone
income and food security. In order to improve agricultural like maize, Teff, bean, wheat, sorghum, pea, barley (Zonal
credit within financial institutions, it is very important to Agricultural office report, 2015).
examine the loan repayment capacity of farmers (Million,
2014). The main economic activity of the Woredas is agriculture,
which is based on land resource. However, due to rapid
Hunte (1996) argued that default problems destroy lending population growth, per capita land holding is declining and
capacity as the flow of repayment declines, transforming this result in a very intensive agriculture that degraded the
lenders into welfare agencies and loan default is a disaster quality of the soil (Zonal agricultural office report, 2015).
because failing to implement appropriate lending The decline on the quality of the soil adversely affected the
strategies and credible credit policies often result in land productivity. Rapid population growth also results in
termination of credit institutions. Farmers incapable to high exploitation of the scarce water and forest resources.
repay loans timely or they face a serious problem to repay The excessive deforestation and soil erosion caused by
which is a problem for both agricultural credit institutions very intensive agricultural system are some of the densely
and smallholder farmers (Million, 2014 and Amare, 2006). populated part of the area has reached the stage where
According to Horro Guduru Wollega Rural Development the land resource can no longer support animal and human
Office second Quarter Report (2015/2016), about 24.3 lives (CSA, 2010).
million birr loan which was given from 2010 to 2014, has
not been repaid in general and according to data obtained b. Data Sources and Type
from the institutions in Horro and Abay chomen districts in
(2016/2017), about 5.75 million birr loan, which was not In order to under-take this study both primary and
repaid in particular. Similarly, since farmers use loan for secondary data were used. The primary data were
non-productive purposes, they become unable to repay it collected through personal interview and focused group
and even they borrow it for agricultural product which is discussion through semi-structured questionnaires, which
climate dependent, they fail to generate more profit. was prepared for the study. The secondary data were
Although there are such like problems that affect loan collected from available books, magazines, articles,
repayment performance of small holders, there is no detail relevant research papers, annual reports and internet
study conducted which is related with detrminants of loan sources.
repayment performances of smallholder farmers in the
study area. Therefore, this study was aimed at examining c. Sample Size and Sampling procedure
the loan repayment performance of farm households in
Horro and Abay Choman woredas of Horro Guduru In this study, two -stage random sampling procedure was
Wollega administrative zone. employed for the selection of the respondents. In the first
step of the sampling, In the first stage, forty-two kebeles in
Research Methodology the Woredas are listed and six kebeles (three from each
district) were selected using simple random sampling
a. Description of the Study Area technique.
The study was conducted in the oromia region, Horro In the second stage, from 2720 the total household in the
Guduru Wollega zone specifically Horro and Abay six kebeles were stratified in to two groups. These are 582
Chomen woredas. Shambu is the capital town of Horro credit participants and 2138 non-participants of formal
Guduru Wollega zone which is located at 315km away source of financial institutions based on the household lists
from the capital city of Ethiopia Addis Ababa in Western which are obtained from the office of the kebeles and
part of the country. Horro and Abay Chomen woredas are formal financial institutions.
among 9 Woreda’s of Horro Guduru Wollega zone.
According to CSA population projection, Horro and Abay Finally, the list of farmers who have obtained loans from
Chomen woredas have 97296 and 59371 total population, formal credit sources were recorded from each kebeles
respectively (CSA, 2015). and a total of 120 farm households were selected
randomly using probability proportional to size sampling
The woredas are bounded from the North by Jardaga Jarte technique.
and Hababo Guduru woreda, in South by Jima Geneti and
Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance of Smallholder Farmers in Horro and Abay Choman woredas of HoroguduruWollega Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
J. Agric. Econ. Rural Devel. 650
Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance of Smallholder Farmers in Horro and Abay Choman woredas of HoroguduruWollega Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
File and Sori 651
Table 2: Summary of continuous variables for defaulter and non-defaulter for all the respondents
Non-defaulters Defaulters Total Sample
Variable Characteristics (N=99) (N=21) T- Value (N=120)
Mean St.dev Mean St.dev Mean St.dev
AGE (year) 41.36 9.08 43.95 8.92 2.623*** 41.82 2.62
FSHH (family size in no) 6.97 2.78 9.52 2.93 2.495*** 7.42 2.96
EDUCTLVL (education in class) 6.82 3.57 5.57 3.14 2.263** 6.6 3.52
DFMHH (distance in km) 2.58 1.9 2.67 2.0 2.206** 2.59 1.92
SLIHH (land in hk) 2.28 1.34 2.02 1.35 2.651*** 2.23 1.36
TLUHHH (livestock in unit) 11.91 6.28 7.29 5.84 3.217*** 11.1 6.43
ExSocr (social ceremony in birr) 1432.32 652.28 1976.19 707.75 2.534*** 1527.5 691.12
AMBOH (money borrowed in birr) 5146.77 1605 5827.62 2166 1.69* 5265.92 411.62
PKGEPRC (exp.in agri. In year) 4.11 1.33 3.14 1.25 1.833* 3.94 1.36
Excon (extn. contact in no days) 1.67 0.705 1.53 0.86 2.453*** 1.56 0.73
Source: Own Survey, 2017
The descriptive statistics result revealed in table 2 above development agents settled their debt timely as compared
show that the average education level of the entire sample to those who had no or few contacts.
households was about 6.6 with maximum class of 12 and
minimum 0 classes. The average level of classes for The descriptive statistics in table 2 above show that the
complete defaulters was 6 and for the non-defaulters was average mean of extension contact for the total sample
7. The difference between the mean values of the two households was 1.56. In case of complete defaulters, it
groups was statistically significant at 5%. Possible was 1.53 and for non-defaulters it was 1.67. This result
justification for this could be that more educated people shows as the mean of extension contact increase the loan
can properly use the loan for increase of agricultural repayment performance increases. The mean difference
production. The better agricultural product will improve the between the two groups was significant at 1% level of
income of the household which contribute to better loan significance. Possible justification for this is that as the
repayment. The results also show that, non-defaulters are number of contact increase the farmers could get sufficient
more educated compared to defaulters which indicates the technical supports that can help him/her to adopt modern
importance of education in repaying loans on time. agricultural technologies that can improve productivity.
Hence, if productivity increases, the farmers can earn
The descriptive statistics in the table 2 indicated that the better income from their agriculture, which can in turn
average money borrowed were birr 5,265.92. The survey contribute to timely loan repayment.
results also revealed that on average Birr 5,146.77 was
borrowed by non-defaulters and defaulters borrowed Birr Socio-economic and Institutional Characteristics of
5,827.62 with 10% level of significance. The mean (Discrete Variables)
difference between the two groups was significant at 10%
level of significance. The sample was composed of both male and female-
headed households. As depicted on table 3, among the
Credit experience in extension package varied among the total sample household heads of 120, 89.17 percent were
sample borrowers from minimum value of two to a male household heads and 10.83 percent were female
maximum of 6 years’ experience. As observed from the household heads. 90.91 percent of the non-defaulters and
above table 2 the average Credit experience sample 9.09 percent of the non-defaulters were male and female-
house hold were 3.94, While non-defaulter participated on headed households where as 80.95 percent of the
average for higher number of years (4.11) as compared to defaulters and 19.05 percent of the defaulters were male
the defaulters who participated on average for 3.14 years. and female-headed households respectively. The
The mean difference between the two groups was differences in terms of sex among the two groups were not
statistically significant. That is, respondents who had significance.
frequent in credit experience and contacts with
Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance of Smallholder Farmers in Horro and Abay Choman woredas of HoroguduruWollega Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
J. Agric. Econ. Rural Devel. 652
Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance of Smallholder Farmers in Horro and Abay Choman woredas of HoroguduruWollega Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
File and Sori 653
The result of logit model on the table 5 show that, as the repayment among the whole respondents. This implies
number of the family size increases by one person the that credit experience of farmers in extension programs
probability of being defaulter 0.026 percent. The possible have developed their credit utilization and management
justification could be that, if family size increase food skills that helped them to pay loans timely. In addition, as
requirement of the household could increase, so that most a result of their participation in credit extension for a
of the agricultural product be used for consumption. number of years, these farmers are the beneficiary of the
Hence, family size has negative effect on loan repayment use of improved agricultural technologies that would
performance in the study area. The result is consistent with increase their income generating capacity and these repay
the studies conducted by Sileshi, (2014), Daniel (2014), loans timely. The result of this study is in line with the result
inconsistent to Zelalem, G., Hassen,B,(.2012). obtained by Assefa B.A. (2013) and Million (2014).
Total of Livestock unit (TLUHH): This is one of the Number of Extension Contact (Excon): The number of
explanatory variables that positively affect the loan contact days that the household head has with extension
repayment rate at 10 percent significant level. From the agents is another important institutional factor, which was
logit result obtained in the table 5 above we can observe positively related to the dependent variable (significant at
that an increase in amount of livestock holding by one 10 percent level) for all the respondents. The result of logit
Tropical Livestock Unit increases the loan repayment rate model on table 5 shows that each additional contact
by 0.009 units among the entire samples. An increase in increases the probability of being a non-defaulter by 4.9
TLU increases the probability of being non-defaulter by percent. This implies that, farmers with more access to
.009. The implication is that, Livestock is one of the technical assistance on agricultural activities were able to
important household assets that can easily be changed to repay their loan as promised, more than those who had
cash. Whenever, the farmers face crop failure, the less or no assistance at all. The reason for this is that,
immediate household asset they have to pay the loan is farmers who have frequent contact with development
the livestock. Hence, they are forced to sale it. In addition, agents are better to informed about markets, increase
as a proxy to oxen ownership the result suggests that productivity and production technologies. As a result, they
farmers who have larger number of livestock have are motivated to repay their loans on time. Similar result
sufficient number of oxen to plough their field timely and was also obtained by Chirwa E, (1997) and Belay (2002).
as a result obtain high yield and income to repay loans.
The result is also supported by findings of Sileshi (2014), Income from Off-farm Activities (Offr): This variable
Daniel (2014), Amare (2006) and Abebe (2011). was positively affects the loan repayment rate at 1 percent
significance level in the study area. This might be due to
Expenditure on Social Festivals (ExSocr): This is a the fact that, off-farm activities were additional sources of
continuous variable that shows frequency of social income for smallholders and the cash generated from
celebration in the year 2016/2017. The ceremonies include these activities could back up the farmers' income to settle
wedding, circumcision, funeral and engagement their debt. The logit result in the table 5 show that farmers'
celebrations. It is clear that such occasions cause over participation in off-farm activity increases the probability of
expenditure of the limited incomes of the households on being non-defaulter by 0.02 percent and on average
practices that do not bring any income to the household. increases the rate of loan repayment by 0.002 percent for
The Logit result shows that celebration of social all respondents. Possible reason is that borrowers who
ceremonies has negative impact on loan repayment rate had other alternative source of income were found to be
at 10 percent significance level. It revealed that an better payers relative to those who didn’t have other
increase in social celebration by one unit causes an sources of income. This result is contrary to results
increase in default rate by 0.075 percent among the total obtained by Bekele (2001) and Belay (2005) but is in line
sample households. Furthermore, each additional social with that of Amare (2006) and Medhin (2015).
festival increases the probability of being defaulter by
0.075 percent. The result of this study is consistent with
the result obtained by Belay (2002) and Shimelles (2009). CONCLUSION
sample of formal credit borrower farmers through semi- The econometric results also indicated that farmers who
structured questionnaires, which was prepared for the engaged in off-farm activities earned more income and
study. The secondary data were collected from available were able to settle their debts in a more time manner, than
books, magazines, articles, relevant research papers, those who were not engaged in off farm activities. This
annual reports and internet sources. A multi-stage random indicates that, rural development strategies and concerned
sampling procedure was employed for the selection of the stakeholders should not only emphasize on increasing
respondents. Data collected were analyzed by using agricultural production but simultaneous attention should
descriptive and econometric model. be given to alternative income generation activities that
promote off-farm activities in the rural areas
From descriptive survey result sample households with
large family size were found to more defaulters than less
family size in the study area because most of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
dependent family members are in education that leads to
the dependency ratio to be high, which requires higher We give our great and special thanks to our God who
utilization rate of loan or income for other purpose. In other helped us to finish this research
case the total livestock units are factors which were
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APPENDICES
Accepted 3 December 2019
Appendix 1: Conversion Factors
Citation: File A, Sori O (2019). Determinants of Loan
Appendix table 1 Conversion Factors used to Compute Repayment Performance of Smallholder Farmers in Horro
Tropical Livestock unit (TLU) and Abay Choman woredas of HoroguduruWollega Zone,
Livestock type TLU (Tropical Livestock Unit) Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Journal of Agricultural
Calf 0.2 Economics and Rural Development, 5(3): 648-655.
Heifer 0.75
Cows/oxen 1
Horse/Mule 1.1
Donkey 0.7 Copyright: © 2019: File and Sori. This is an open-access
Donkey (Young) 0.35 article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Sheep/Goat 0.13 Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
Sheep/Goat (Young) 0.06 use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
Livestock type TLU (Tropical Livestock Unit) provided the original author and source are cited.
Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance of Smallholder Farmers in Horro and Abay Choman woredas of HoroguduruWollega Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia