ACE Seminars

Abstract:
Smallholder farmers in India face chronic credit and risk constraints, especially women, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers, who often lack documented land rights. This paper evaluates whether a remote‑sensing‑based credit‑scoring innovation (KhetScore), paired with picture‑based crop insurance, can relax these constraints and strengthen women’s intrahousehold agency. Guided by a non‑cooperative household bargaining framework, we implemented a cluster randomized controlled trial across 58 villages in Odisha, offering KhetScore loans bundled with subsidized multi‑peril crop insurance, with eligibility determined by productivity scores rather than land titles. Using survey data from 1,706 households, we find that access to KhetScore increased formal borrowing, reduced reliance on informal credit, and significantly lowered repayment difficulties, consistent with insurance mitigating borrower risk. Farmers expanded both monsoon‑ and dry‑season cultivation, raising revenues and profits without increasing costs. Women saw greater agency and reduced psychological stress. We conclude that remote‑sensing‑based credit scoring bundled with insurance can profitably expand rural credit access, improve agricultural outcomes, and generate meaningful gains in women’s empowerment and well‑being.

Bio:
Berber Kramer is a Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her research focuses on financial inclusion, technology adoption, gender, and adaptation to climate change. She leads a research program that aims to strengthen agricultural insurance and finance in Ethiopia, India, and Kenya through digital innovations in the design of financial services. Berber also leads an area of research around understanding drivers of farmers’ decision to use genetic innovations, and around evidence use for demand-driven and impact-oriented breeding. She has a PhD in economics from the Tinbergen Institute, the Netherlands.