Paper Title
Financial accessibility, the key to the development of small and emerging commercial farmers: The case of the Greater Tzaneen municipality, South Africa

Abstract
Lack of finance is a major challenge faced by small and emerging commercial farmers. The study assessed the small and emerging commercial farmers’ access to finance and determined factors influencing access to agricultural finance. The study was conducted in Greater Tzaneen Municipality in Limpopo Province. Primary data was collected from 86 farmers through the use of structured interview schedule. The descriptive analysis revealed that only 15% of farmers’ access agricultural credit, while 85% of farmers failed to access agricultural credit. The results of the logit model revealed that seven independent variables are statistically significant. The study recommends that government need to establish more affordable loans and funding to address the main challenge faced by farmers. Keywords - Access to finance, small and emerging commercial farmers, Greater Tzaneen Municipality, agricultural credit, saving.