Since farmers harvest crops (and therefore earn income) just a few times a year, many agricultural households struggle to save their cash and maintain their consumption in the months between harvests. For this reason, the period before harvest is often termed the “hungry season”. Previous research has shown that offering well-timed, seasonal credit to farmers can help boost agricultural productivity and smooth consumption, but few programs designed to provide seasonal credit to small-scale farmers exist in low-income settings. We work with a private sector partner to test a scale up of seasonal loans. The program increased farmer engagement with the company and had high take up, but led to high levels of default, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to its discontinuation.
