Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Analysing the economic impact of Albanian Savings and Credit Union on the farming activities in rural Albania

Author(s):

Jonida Bou Dib (Lekocaj) *, Julian Lekocaj, Mariana Nikolla, Engjell Skreli

Recieved Date: 2014-02-02, Accepted Date: 2014-04-13

Abstract:

Three out of four poor people live in rural areas, and the majority of rural inhabitants depend on agriculture. Access to appropriate financial services is a critical factor for agricultural development and yet, due to the specific constraints that come with financing agriculture (reaching isolated rural areas, working with highly seasonal activities, agro-climatic risks, etc.), developing an adequate supply of financial services remains a challenge in most of agricultural countries. Agriculture is one of the most determinative sectors of the Albanian economy and the main working alternative of people living in the rural areas. Microfinance programs target both economic and social poverty. To assess the effectiveness of these programs, MFIs need to measure the impact on the borrowers, who in our case are the farmers. The goal of this research paper pertained to economic impacts analysis, and what their implication on the farmers’ income and activity is. In general, the study has identified various positive impacts on the farmers’ activities that proclaim that ASC Union services are useful and viable. To assess these impacts, 100 questionnaires were conducted in Central and North Albania, while SPSS Software program with the main purpose to show the level of involvement of the farmers in the micro credit program and a model based on two-way causalities, together with econometric tools such as regression, cross-tabulation and correlation analysis, to address the issues of impacts were used. Overall, our study found out that 27% of the farmers choose to borrow from ASC Union because taking out a loan from this credit union is easier than borrowing from another MFI, while 15% said that ASC Union has the lowest interest rate in the credit market for the micro loans. Furthermore, 87 farmers out of 100, who were 4 to 10 year-old-members of the credit union, had their income increased in the last 3 years, whereas only 13 farmers answered that there was no change in their income in those years. Moreover, the farmers who took out 2, 3, 4 or 5 micro loans admitted that the micro loan was useful and helped them to increase and improve their activities, while on the other hand the ones who took just one loan proclaimed that there is no change in their income or activities.

Keywords:

Microfinance, micro credit, agriculture, Albanian Savings and Credit Union, economic impact, farming, Albania

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2014
Volume: 12
Issue: 2
Category: Agriculture
Pages: 630-634

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