Modelling ODA financing on production: Matching method[Modélisation du financement par APD sur la production Méthode par appariement]

Microfinance gives rural households access to credit. In the agricultural sector, which suffers from a lack of both financing and infrastructure, official development assistance (ODA) can provide a partial solution to these problems. In 2008, an ODA project was launched to improve access to credit for 2,300 people in the South West Region. The study was conducted in two rural communities benefiting from the project, Tsianisiha and Ankilimaliniky, to assess the impact of agricultural credit on household production. Using quasi-experimental data collected in 2017, an ex-post impact evaluation was employed to determine whether or not production had increased. The use of econometric modelling with matching allowed for the control and resolution of selection biases in the data. The results show that the agricultural loan granted to a microfinance member has no impact on production. In conclusion, the beneficiary population has access to credit, but without any improvement in their level of production. The arrival of official development assistance does not affect the lives of the beneficiaries.