Identifying the Demand-Based Financial Issues in the Agriculture Sector of Pakistan: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Pakistan is an agrarian economy with a booming Islamic financial system, but the low share of Salam financing does not do justice to the agricultural financing needs. This forces poor farmers to resort to usurious and non-institutional financing leading to a poverty trap. Literature has explored different dimensions of lack of financing facilities. The primary objective of this study is to categorize different dimensions pertaining to the under fulfilled financing needs of farmers to derive restructuring suggestions for Salam applicability in Pakistan. The variables are drawn using thematic analysis of studies published between 2008 to 2020, which conducted exploratory surveys of financial issues from farmers in agriculture sector of Pakistan. The studies are selected from databases including Google Scholar, EBSCO and Web of Science. The derived variables are validated using an independent rater using the interclass correlation coefficient. Rater validated all generated variables via thematic analysis. Most studies pointed to issues of finance accessibility and resource availability. The closest study pointed out the financing of agricultural machinery is the most discussed issue.