Post-Harvest Losses and the Credit Constraint: Can CGSL Financing of Storage Infrastructure Improve Food Security in South Sudan?

This article examines whether Community Group Saving and Lending (CGSL) mechanisms can be used to finance small-scale storage infrastructure as a pathway for reducing post-harvest losses and strengthening food security in rural South Sudan. The analysis is developed from a mixed-methods PhD study on CGSL mechanisms and rural agricultural development in Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei and Lakes States. The thesis data included 81 valid survey responses out of 85 questionnaires distributed, alongside 17 qualitative interviews, and was analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square testing and logistic regression. Although the original field instrument did not directly measure physical post-harvest loss rates, it provides strong evidence on the financial constraint that prevents smallholders from investing in longer-term agricultural assets. Working-capital scarcity recorded a very high overall mean of 4.68, modern agricultural technology was perceived as highly capital intensive with a mean of 4.30, and long-term investment in land, machinery and infrastructure scored only 3.51. The logistic regression result showed that access to credit significantly influenced investment in modern agricultural technology (beta = 1.9459, p = 0.026). On this basis, the article argues that CGSLs can improve food security if they move beyond short consumption-smoothing loans and create ring-fenced storage-finance windows for hermetic bags, raised granaries, community stores and harvest aggregation assets. The contribution of the article is a storage-finance model that links informal credit, reduced harvest distress sales, lower loss exposure and improved household food availability. The findings suggest that CGSLs should not be romanticised as complete substitutes for public or formal agricultural finance, but they can be strengthened as first-mile institutions for financing low-cost, locally governed storage infrastructure.