Contribution of Agricultural Loans to Farmers’ Income and Living Standards in Tubah Subdivision, Cameroon’s Mezam Division

Abstract

The study examined the contribution of agricultural loans to farmers’ income and living standard in Tubah Subdivision, Mezam Division, Cameroon. A descriptive research design is used. Structured questionnaire was administered to 90 participants for primary data collection. Data was analyzed at the 95% level of significance (α = 0.05) using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software version 25.0 and Microsoft Excel version 13. The findings on the types of agricultural loans available to farmers revealed three primary loan forms including personal finance (nearly 97%), cash subsidies (nearly 90%) and institutional support (almost 36%) were available to farmers in Tubah Subdivision. The findings on the impact of agricultural loans on farmers' income revealed the following factors to be significant: increasing farm size (mean effect of 4.7), productivity (mean effect of 4.57), direct income increases (mean effect of 4.56), and the capacity to hire labour (mean effect of 4.53). The overall rise in household income is of major interest, according to the results, on the impact of agricultural loans on farmers' living standards (a mean score of 4.41 for males and 4.76 for women, t = -2.085, p = 0.04). Results on the challenges/barriers farmers face in obtaining loans revealed that high interest rates and challenging loan qualifying requirements, as expressed by more than 63% of farmers, was the main constraint faced by these farmers in Tubah Subdivision. The cumbersome procedures for farmers to obtain loans should be revise by agricultural financial institutions for sustainable agricultural development.