374 Enabling Policies and Institutions for Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems
rely on informal networks through which to gain access to loans. Bank credit is in
very short supply and dominated by a few suppliers requiring significant collateral
arrangements. Agricultural credit is otherwise limited to the extension programme
which offers a fixed package of inputs on credit to farmers with strict systems for
repayment. Poorer farmers are in particular difficulties as a result, having very lim-
ited networks for raising cash while being unable to make effective use of the credit
package. As a result, rising levels of default and debt are affecting the poorer and
more marginal farmers in the area. In Zimbabwe, formal credit was offered to all
communal area farmers on reasonable terms in the 1980s through the Agricultural
Finance Corporation. However, default levels, particularly in drought-prone areas
such as Chivi, were very high and the facility has been withdrawn. Today, getting
access to credit from government or private bank sources is increasingly difficult,
in part because of the stringent conditions applied. Informal lending and savings
arrangements are therefore the primary way by which farmers raise cash.
Rural infrastructure
Easy access to markets can provide a major spur to farmers to intensify agricultural
production and investment in land improvement (Tiffen et al, 1994). Such effects
stem from the impact of a broader array of demands for goods and services, and
reduced transport costs bringing better margins on input and output prices.
In southern Ethiopia, the challenges set by the mountainous landscape to road
building, combined with low levels of investment, have meant that rural infra-
structure is poorly developed. However, since 1991, major improvements to the
main road through the study area has brought shorter journey times and more
assured access throughout the year. This has been particularly important for the
lowland study site where, in the past, travel times to the main market town of Soddo
were considerable. Today a greater range of motorized transport opportunities exist
at much lower costs. Nevertheless, much transport to market continues to be done
by foot and donkey, with people often trekking for many hours to reach a market.
The profusion of markets, occurring on a daily basis (and sometimes with day,
evening and even night markets), is a characteristic of the Ethiopian rural economy.
Such markets give traders the opportunity to make small margins by selling and buy-
ing in different places. This source of off-farm income is particularly significant for
women. With the increasing access, larger market centres such as Soddo have become
more important, sometimes displacing smaller, local markets. This has a number of
consequences. For those purchasing and selling goods, improved infrastructure has
reduced transport costs with the result that both consumers and producers benefit.
However, the reduction in trading opportunities in the smaller markets may have
impacts on women’s livelihood options, as it is often men, with access to cash, who
can afford the transport costs to the larger market centres, with the result that trad-
ing activities become concentrated among those with capital assets.
In Mali, maintenance and improvement of the principal roads from Bamako
to Sikasso, Segou and the north-east of the country takes up the major share of the