Discrimination Against Vegetable Farmers in the Microcredit Market

This study, based on agency theory, transaction cost theory, and conventionalist approaches, sought to identify the main determinants of discrimination against vegetable farmers in the city-province of Kinshasa in the microcredit market. Our main hypothesis was that lenders (MFIs) discriminate against microcredit applicants based on certain conventions. These conventions relate to capital endowment, the economic characteristics of the farm, credit technology, as well as the institutional framework and cultural factors.We adopted a hypothetical-deductive approach grounded in post-positivism as our epistemological framework.The analyses revealed the existence of several variables associated with access to credit. The survey results validated the theoretical hypothesis of a relationship between institutional factors and the microcredit status of vegetable farmers, at least when the concept of institutional factors is operationalized by variables such as the presence of a local MFI and access to extension services.