Microfinance and Agriculture Framing in Rural Sindh

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze the role of microfinance in the development of agriculture farming in rural areas of Sindh, Pakistan. The attempt-has been made to correlate the extent of microfinance lending in the process of development of agriculture business in rural economy. Microfinance lending has been provided by Microfinance institutions (MFIs) to rural people in the shape of small loans of different features for seasonal crops in the rural areas. In order to analyze this effect of microfinance on agriculture farming in rural Sindh. This study has randomly selected small fitriners in the villages of Mirpurkhas district in Sindh province of Pakistan. These selected farmers were the clients of different microfinance providers working in the area and had got loans for the agriculture purposes and utilized credit amount .for the purchase of required inputs in their seasonal crops. Mostly these small loans were disbursed to small land owners, poor tenants and landless laborers through the community groups in the selected villages. The aim of study was to explore the benefits of microfinance lending to rural farmers and to analyze a relationship between microfinance and agriculture farming. The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that microfinance lending had a significant relationship in the development of agriculture farming in the rural areas. The results of study show the positive role of small loans on crop production and enhancement in agricultural income of rural people.

Keywords: Agriculture Lending, Microfinance, Small Farmers, Rural Sindh, Poverty