AGRICULTURAL CREDIT-MEANING, DEFINITION, NEED AND CLASSIFICATION
Definition
Credit is obtaining control over the use of money at the present time in exchange for a
promise to repay it at some future time.
Credit is also defined as a device for facilitating the temporary transfer of purchasing
power from those who have surpluses of it to those who are in need of it. Thus, credit involves a
temporary transfer of wealth.
Agricultural Credit is the amount of investment funds made available for agricultural
production from resources outside the farm sector.
Agricultural Finance is considered as separate field of study dealing with lending and
borrowing by organizations and farmers.
Hopkin et al referred agricultural finance as the means of acquiring and control of assets,
ownership by cash purchase or borrowing or leasing or custom-hiring.
Warren F.Lee et al defined Agricultural Finance as the economic study of the acquisition
and use of capital in agriculture. It deals with the supply of and demand for funds in the agricul-
tural sector of an economy.
According to William G. Murray, agricultural finance is the economic study of borrowing
of funds by farmers; of the organization and operation of farm lending agencies; and of
society's interest in credit for agriculture.
Farm Finance is a branch of agricultural economics which deals with the provision and
management of services of financial resources related to the individual farm units.
Farm finance can also be defined as the amount of funds obtained from off-farm
sources for use on the farm, repayable in future with an interest agreed to either explicitly or
implicitly.
Farm Finance
i. is not meant merely for more production but also to raise the productivity of farm
resources;
ii. not a mere loan or advance , but it is an instrument to promote the well being of the
farming community;
iii. is not just a science to manage the money, but is an applied science of allocating
scarce resources to derive optimum output; and
iv. not a mere social obligation on the society; but it is a lever with backward and
forward linkages to the economic development both at toe micro and macro level.
Definition
Credit is obtaining control over the use of money at the present time in exchange for a
promise to repay it at some future time.
Credit is also defined as a device for facilitating the temporary transfer of purchasing
power from those who have surpluses of it to those who are in need of it. Thus, credit involves a
temporary transfer of wealth.
Agricultural Credit is the amount of investment funds made available for agricultural
production from resources outside the farm sector.
Agricultural Finance is considered as separate field of study dealing with lending and
borrowing by organizations and farmers.
Hopkin et al referred agricultural finance as the means of acquiring and control of assets,
ownership by cash purchase or borrowing or leasing or custom-hiring.
Warren F.Lee et al defined Agricultural Finance as the economic study of the acquisition
and use of capital in agriculture. It deals with the supply of and demand for funds in the agricul-
tural sector of an economy.
According to William G. Murray, agricultural finance is the economic study of borrowing
of funds by farmers; of the organization and operation of farm lending agencies; and of
society's interest in credit for agriculture.
Farm Finance is a branch of agricultural economics which deals with the provision and
management of services of financial resources related to the individual farm units.
Farm finance can also be defined as the amount of funds obtained from off-farm
sources for use on the farm, repayable in future with an interest agreed to either explicitly or
implicitly.
Farm Finance
i. is not meant merely for more production but also to raise the productivity of farm
resources;
ii. not a mere loan or advance , but it is an instrument to promote the well being of the
farming community;
iii. is not just a science to manage the money, but is an applied science of allocating
scarce resources to derive optimum output; and
iv. not a mere social obligation on the society; but it is a lever with backward and
forward linkages to the economic development both at toe micro and macro level.
