Economic Analysis of Fish Traders Access to Formal Finance in Cameroon

Abstract

One of the major constraints to fish trading is limited access to formal credit. The main goal of this research was to carry out an economic analysis of fish traders’ access to formal finance in Cameroon. This research makes use of primary data on total weekly income of traders, availability of surety, interest rate charged, loan payback period, experience, market information, and fish traders’ access to formal credit collected with the use of a questionnaire. The Logit model was used for analysis and the logistic regression done using STATA. Descriptive statistics and econometric estimation revealed that, educational level, total weekly income of traders, availability of surety, interest rate charged, loan payback period and experience are significant determinants of fish traders’ access to formal finance. This study therefore, recommends that government should intervene through the use of its specialized tools in creating agricultural banks with low interest rate and adequate loan payback period so as to improve financing of agricultural activities.