Formal Conditions that Affect Agricultural Credit Supply to Small-scale Farmers in Rural Kenya: Case Study for Kiambu County

Abstract

Credit is an important factor in agricultural production especially to small holder agriculture. This study was to establish the effect of formal lending conditions that affect the supply of agricultural credit to farmers such as interest rates and collateral requirements. The study adopted a descriptive research design and target population was the Credit managers and loan officers in four Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Equity bank, Family bank and Cooperative bank banks in Gatundu South. The study used a simple regression model to establish that the credit agricultural credit access is still affected by the aforementioned conditions. From the study, policy recommendations were public education on the effects of interest rates. Banks should come up with products that suits small scale farmers’ needs such as group lending, affordable mode of payment that will attract farmers to borrow agricultural credit.