Credit Access and the Adoption of High-Yielding Variety Seeds Among Smallholders in South Sudan: A Logistic Regression Analysis

The paper is drawn from a mixed-methods study undertaken in Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei and Lakes State, where formal rural banking remains limited and agricultural investment depends heavily on informal and community-managed financial mechanisms. Objective: This article examines how access to credit through Community Group Saving and Lending (CGSL) mechanisms shapes the adoption of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds and related modern agricultural technologies among smallholders in South Sudan. Methods: The quantitative component used 81 valid survey responses drawn from an initial target sample of 85 farmers, fishermen/women and pastoralists, while the qualitative component drew on 17 interviews with CGSL members and local stakeholders. The logistic regression result indicates that access to credit is positive and statistically significant (B = 1.9459, SE = 0.875, z = 2.222, p = 0.026), implying that credit access raises the predicted probability of technology investment from about 33.3% to 77.7% in the model. Results: Descriptive results show that 75% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that land should be allocated for high-yielding varieties, 78% agreed that credit is a prerequisite for technology access, 91% viewed modern agricultural technology as capital intensive, and all respondents identified scarcity of working capital as a constraint. Conclusion: The empirical focus is the logistic relationship between credit access and the decision to invest in modern agricultural technologies, treating HYV seed adoption as a key input pathway within that broader investment decision.