Study on Regional Differences of Farmer Credit Performance —Based on Panel Data of 1995—2009

Based on the panel data of 1995—2009,the paper analyzes the influences of credits from formal financial and informal channels on farmer income. Results show that: money from both financial and informal channels could improve farmer income,but regional variations were obvious. In the western region,the formal financial contribution of 0.80 was most significant,respectively higher than eastern region’s 0.21 and middle region’s 0.41. Informal lending in the eastern and western was not significant; the contribution of informal lending in the central area was very significant. Therefore,the farmer income regional differences are caused by the farmer credit differences,which are mainly related with the regional policy and regional planting structure difference. In order to narrow down farmer income and lending regional differences,the paper puts forward the corresponding countermeasures of moderately guiding cooperation between rural formal and non-formal finance,improving the rural financial coverage,increasing formal financial support in central region as well as guaranteeing food security.