Farmers´ free access to credit may be hampered by various factors jointly termed as "credit constraints". Some of them can be ascribed to the supply side of the credit market. In this case, they may result from information asymmetry, insufficient collateral options, high transaction costs, lack of client focus on the part of lenders and low integration of rural financial markets. Other credit constraints can be traced to agriculture itself, i.e. the demand side of the credit market. Credit constraints may also follow from the excessive state intervention in the financing of agriculture.

However, the importance of credit constraints in agriculture should not be exaggerated. Restricted access to credit does not always constitute the one obstacle to the progress of the sector. Empirical studies do not give a clear answer as to the impact of those constraints on farming; neither do we know the type of farm or farm manager that is the most prone to such constraints. Therefore large-scale direct state intervention aimed to buffer off the impact of credit constraints should be discouraged, in favour of indirect instruments.