Financing Smallholder Agriculture: An Experiment with Agent-Intermediated Microloans in India

We experimentally evaluate two micro-lending schemes to finance high-value smallholder agriculture. Loans featured durations that matched crop cycles, low interest rates, dynamic repayment incentives and index insurance. In the TRAIL design, the lender incentivized a local trader to recommend borrowers for individual-liability loans. In GBL, it offered joint-liability loans to self-formed groups, who attended high-frequency meetings and met savings targets. TRAIL loans increased potato cultivation and farm incomes by 17{21%, but GBL loans had insignificant effects, because TRAIL borrowers were more productive and lower-risk. TRAIL loans had higher repayment and take-up rates, and lower administrative costs than GBL loans.