| In Colombia,the agricultural sector has been seriously affected by a series of social conflicts,a high level of poverty and recently by the effects of climate change.For this reason,in the last legislations of the country,rural development,the modernization of the sector and the increase in agricultural productivity have been issues of great importance.In particular,the department of Valle del Cauca located in the Colombian southwest,has been a department ravaged by violence,armed groups,and insecurity especially in the rural sector,however,it has the highest agricultural yields at the national level,according to the last national agricultural census(CNA by its acronyms in Spanish)carried out in2014.The increase in agricultural productivity is one of the many factors benefiting from the social and economic development of agricultural sector.Hence,areas with higher agricultural yields than others,make evident good public policies that promote the development,organization,and innovation.Thus,it is necessary to highlight that to reach an innovative development in the agricultural sector and improve the production process,large investments,financial resources,productive resources such as land,labor,and others derivate from them are required.This study evaluates the impact of agricultural credit on the productivity of Musaceae(plantains and bananas),agro-industrial crops(sugarcane and coffee)and a fruit crop(avocado)in farmers in Valle del Cauca(Colombia).To carry out this analysis,the anonymized database of the National Agricultural Census(CNA)of 2014 was used,whose data was available only until 2017,being this the most current and complete information available on the agricultural sector in Colombia today.Additionally,for purposes of this research,the study was carried out at the level of the agricultural production unit(UPA by its acronyms in Spanish)understood as the census unit and from which the specific data of interest are derived.The effect of agricultural credits programs on two productivity indices was examined,each one of these consider the land and labor as productivity factors respectively.In this way,the first productivity index is measured in tons of production per hectare and the second index is measured in tons of production per employee(including permanent and daily employees).On the other hand,as is known,the credit programs are not awarded randomly among farmers,then to control selection bias,this study uses the Propensity Score Matching(PSM)methodology,applying three different matching algorithms(Radius,4-nearest neighbor,and Kernel matching)and a balance test to demonstrate that there is no systematic difference between the treatment group and the control group after pairing.In general terms for Musaceae crops,the results of this research suggest that banana producers who access an agricultural credit program obtain positive and significant effects in the first productivity index,that is,with access to agricultural credit it is possible to increase the production per hectare between 6.8%and 8.4%.However,the second index is indicating that the farmer is possibly increasing the costs derived from hiring labor to increase production per hectare,for that reason,resources are not being used effectively and there is no investment in other items directly related to productivity.In the case of plantain crop,this study suggests that there is no significant statistical evidence linking access to agricultural credit with increased productivity,given the indeterminate effect of agricultural credit on the indices evaluated in this research for this crop.On the other hand,regarding the agro-industrial crops analyzed(sugar cane and coffee),no statistically significant results were found that validate the increase or decrease in productivity with access to agricultural credit,however,thanks to literature review was found that these crops were seriously affected by the winter season that hit Colombia in the period between 2009-2012,hence,by the time of the census(2014),the data provided by the farmer and the results of the analysis reflected that the investment was intended for economic recovery due to the losses generated in previous years.For the avocado crop,results with a high standard error(SE)and statistically insignificant were found,therefore,it is suggested to carry out an additional study for this crop,in which additional control variables are included,in addition to applying other methodologies to check the effect of agricultural credit on its productivity.Finally,it should be noted that the results of this research could be seen distorted by the fact that the crops under study are long cycle,therefore,the effect of the credit can only be seen reflected if the crop was already in a productive stage and generating income.Additionally,it is suggested to the institutions that grant agricultural credits,greater presence,advice,and support,as well as knowledge of the real needs of the farmers. |
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