Agricultural Credit in Rural Communities: Performance and Perception in Maize Farming in The Department of Odienné (Côte d’Ivoire)

Abstract

Food security is an important pillar of agricultural policies in sub-Saharan Africa. Among food crops, maize plays a crucial role in ensuring the nutritional balance of populations in northern Côte d'Ivoire. To support its production, an input credit mechanism has been initiated in the Odienné department. This study evaluates the effects of credit on agricultural performance and attempts to capture the perceptions related to this type of investment. It is based on a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. The survey was conducted in five localities in the Odienné department with 104 producers. Two focus groups of four people each were conducted to understand the beneficiaries' relationships with maize cultivation and agricultural credit. An analysis of variance was applied on yield variables. Among the beneficiaries, productivity decreased from 2019, before the project, to 2020 from 1067 ±844 Kg/ha to 1022 ±518 Kg/ha, and increased from 2020 to 2021, respectively from 1022 ±518 Kg/ha to 1311 ±1068 Kg/ha. There is a significant difference in farm productivity depending on whether producers receive input credit or not. Overall, no significant difference was observed between the yields for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. Practically, the input credit project is not profitable for manual and animal-drawn technics applied on maize cultivation. Despite these significant deficits, the attachment to maize cultivation is explained by the fact that this crop is grown primarily to meet self-consumption needs and not as a cash crop.