THEME: Existing saving and borrowing practices are a good starting point for the planning of rural financial services.
Saving. The practice of saving is generally widespread, reportedly more so among the Lobi than among other ethnic groups.
People noted clothing and house-repair and construction as the only expenditure items on which savings were possible. In all, clothing (though accounting for only about 10% of women's earnings) seems to be the most fungible item of the household budget. It is significant that expenditure on ceremonies and for social reasons was not viewed as reducible. This can account for around 10-12% or so of the husband's earnings, and maybe more. In a sense, such ceremonial expenditure is a traditional form of insurance, since social networks and the extended family can be critical for survival. Borrowing. Credit is often mentioned as a constraint. Borrowing from informal sources within the community is quite common. The reason for this is usually some type of emergency or, to a lesser extent, to pay labourers. Other types of production uses of credit seem to be very limited, since people in the Zanzan tend to use few agricultural inputs and, except for grain mills, little machinery. Usually the money is borrowed without cash interest. Instead, the borrower may be expected to pay interest in the form of labour or make some other voluntary gift of gratitude. In one village, the study found moneylenders who imposed interest rates of 100%. It also noted a group of enterprising youth who were planning to start lending money at interest. Youth have opportunities to perform few income-generating activities in rural areas, and are often unable to make a living in farming because of land and cultural constraints. Men and women in two areas had received access to formal credit through an IFAD-supported project. This was the only case of formal credit encountered by the study. Being accustomed to the informality of borrowing from family and neighbours, the borrowers or would-be borrowers complained about the complex procedures involved in loan application and approval. In planning rural financial services, it is important to understand user demand and credit culture, including how people view wealth, and what they normally save and borrow for. Such understanding can help improve the effectiveness of formal services and minimize the diversion of funds for emergencies such as funerals and social occasions. Adapted from: Lubbock, Annina. 1998. Côte d'Ivoire: Securite Alimentaire et Problematique Hommes/Femmes dans La Region de Nord-Est. Rome: IFAD, January. All secondary sources are as noted in this document
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As
reported by an IFAD study undertaken in 1997, sources of income
vary, but households in this region tend to derive most of their
cash income from the production of food crops, and less from livestock
or poultry. In certain villages, and primarily with the Lobi, women's
off-farm income from beer-brewing (tchapalo) and the collection
and processing of shea nuts is also important. Lobi women also obtain
a much larger proportion of their income from livestock (around
18%) than do non-Lobi women (around 3%). Where women live on the
main road or in border towns, petty trading can also be an important
source of their income. For men, the main sources of income are
cash crops, food crops and, to a certain extent, labour. Although
there is considerable out-migration, apparently remittances are
quite infrequent and relatively unimportant as sources of cash.