Credit & rice productivity

We examined the relationship between agricultural credit intensity and rice productivity across the ten highest rice-producing states in India by rice production in 2020-21. We use official state-level measures of rice yield, irrigation coverage, agricultural credit, and total cropped area. Credit intensity is defined as cumulative agricultural ground-level credit disbursement reported through December 2020 per hectare of total cropped area. Because the credit series covers agriculture and allied activities rather than rice alone, it is interpreted as an indicator of the broader state agricultural-finance environment. The descriptive results show a positive cross-state association, the Pearson correlation is 0.475, and the baseline regression coefficient is 0.00466 kg/ha per rupee of credit intensity (p = 0.165, R² = 0.226). The analysis is descriptive rather than causal, and the estimated relationship is interpreted in the context of other conditions affecting rice production, including irrigation, input access, and financial infrastructure.

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