External evaluation of the PL-480 Title III small farmer credit program in Bolivia

480 Title III small farmer credit program in Bolivia. The program, known as the "Trust Fund," utilizes private Bolivian banks and cooperatives to channel loan credits to small- and medium-scale farmers, and agroindustrial and artisanal enterprises. The evaluation addresses three aspects of this Title III-funded project: its institutional success, its fiduciary integrity, and its impact on credit recipients. Three groups receive credit under this program. Agroindustrial and artisanal enterprises are probably not receiving optimally allocated credit, since (1) the artisanal sector is poorly defined and (2) no detailed evaluation of the Bolivian input and processing/distribution sectors exists from which to evaluate returns to investments. Medium-sized farms benefit directly from the availability of credit, but the evaluation was not able to document the magnitude of production response from the files. Very small farms benefit as well, but informal interviews indicate that these "Trust Fund" loans are substituted for other higher-cost loans, so little net increase in production is expected, while technical assistance is most likely necessary "if small farmers are to make efficient use of increased credit for production costs." (Author abstract, from PN-ABD-893)