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Allocating production risks through credit cum insurance contracts: the design and implementation of a fund for small cotton growers to access market finance

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  • Alem, Mauro
  • Jorge Elias, Julio

Abstract

Collateral requirements that lenders place on small cotton producers can lead to risk rationing and to farmers’ dependence on downstream parties. This paper presents a cotton fund that consists of a set of contracts – credit, insurance, warrant and forward – that enables producers to tackle specific agricultural risks and gain access to market finance. These financial contracts proved to be successful at guaranteeing the fund as issuer of state-contingent debt securities in the capital markets. The fund, as an intermediary, lent to cooperatives to help finance small cotton producers in northern Argentina. The paper explains the experimental design of this innovative fund and presents a potential alternative to government intervention by moving away from ex post subsidies for small producers and, instead, facilitating ex ante private credit. The paper contributes to the literature on rural financial intermediation by designing a new mechanism to raise funds coming from relatively uninformed investors and creating collateral substitutes through delegated monitoring to overcome asymmetric information and limited commitment.

Suggested Citation

  • Alem, Mauro & Jorge Elias, Julio, 2018. "Allocating production risks through credit cum insurance contracts: the design and implementation of a fund for small cotton growers to access market finance," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 21(2), March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ifaamr:269550
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.269550
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    Cited by:

    1. Julio Elías & Gustavo Ferro & Álvaro García, 2019. "A Quest for Quality: Creativity and Innovation in the Wine Industry of Argentina," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4135, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    2. Hu, Lifang & Lopez, Rigoberto A. & Zeng, Yinchu, 2020. "Determinants of credit constraints for agricultural wholesalers in China," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 23(4), June.

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