Impact of agricultural credit on income, employment input usage of borrower and non-borrower farm households in Chickballapur district of Karnataka

Finance is considered as the basic ingredient for each and every economic activity including agriculture. Especially in the economy where agriculture is subsistence this problem is very severe. The present research was conducted in Chickballapur district of Karnataka to study the impact of credit on income and employment of the sample farmers. The study showed that the major contributor of input to the total cost was human labour and seed and seed for mulberry, tomato and potato for both BF and NBF. However in case of banana fertilizer cost was the major item in the total cost while human labour charge was the major contributor of the total cost. The major constraints faced by both BF and NBF were not availing credit from institutional sources, favoritism to large farmers in sanctioning of loans, complicated procedure in attaining credit, lack of awareness and higher interest rates. The findings also showed positive relationship between agricultural credit and income, employment of the sample farmers. This relationship could be attributed to the timely availability of credit for their investment in income generating activities.