Review of the Literature on Financial Markets and Agribusiness Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons Learned and Suggestions for an Analytical Agenda

摘要

Agricultural growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been impeded by the lack of a strong financial sector to provide credit to farms and other agribusinesses. The paper, based primarily on an extensive literature review, synthesizes the lessons learned from the many -- mostly unsuccessful -- government- and donor-led efforts to develop a viable agribusiness finance sector. The paper first describes the basic components of the financial sector (including formal, semi-formal, and informal elements) and the different kinds of financial institutions used by donors and governments as agents of agribusiness finance. Efforts have mostly focused on increasing the supply and reducing the costs of credit by channeling donor or government-subsidized funds through formal intermediate financial institutions (IFI's), e.g., savings banks, development finance institutions, cooperatives, credit unions, village banks. Only recently have governments and donors begun to use the private sector to provide financial services to agribusiness. The paper presents detailed analyses of lessons learned from these experiences, and identifies a research agenda for both the short and long term.