Most scientists today believe that microfinance is an effective means of alleviate poverty and financial exclusion. It plays an important role in improving the living conditions of rural populations; by providing them with productive resources through the provision of credit, savings, tontine and insurance services. The recognized importance of microfinance institutions has led to the creation of a multitude of microfinance institutions. This situation raises the problem of competition that the latter engage in, especially when the government decides to intervene in the sector with the creation of microfinance institutions with the «microcredit for the poorest» program. The methodology used consisted of collecting data from 265 MFI clients in the town of Parakou in Benin. Multiple regression was used to analyze the results. According to the results, individual factors (client satisfaction, client trust in the institution, and social networks) better explained client loyalty than factors relating to the quality of IMF service delivery. Likewise, the viability of the IMF is determined more by economic factors (resources necessary to meet the various charges, provisions for doubtful debts, volume of activities and collection capacity) than by social factors (physical proximity and the cultural proximity of the institution to their clients). And finally, customer loyalty explains the viability of the IMF.

This article aims to analyze two soybean production systems based on the use or not of inoculum. To this end, firstly, it was a question of identifying the factors likely to explain the practice of inoculum in soybean production systems and then secondly to assess the economic profit made by producers practicing these production systems. Qualitative as well as quantitative data on socio-economic characteristics and soybean production had been collected from nearly 47 inoculum users and 58 non-users. The logit model as well as the profit indices was estimated using the STATA 13.0 software. The results showed that socioeconomic factors such as the number of agricultural workers (10%) and experience in soybean production (1%) significantly explained the practice of the production system based on the use of inoculum. Likewise, access to agricultural credit was the only institutional factor explaining the 10% threshold for the practice of this system. Compared to the profile, the same system had a net margin of 78,592 FCFA / Ha (p = 0.000) more than the system without the use of inoculum. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in the benefit-cost ratio (3.29 FCFA for the system with use of inoculum against 3.19 FCFA for the system without use of inoculum). This was due to the costs spent on acquiring the inoculum. The inoculum subsidy would be essential for the future of the soybean industry.

The SNV's Program for Strengthening Cotton Producer Organizations, due to the failure of the prescriptive approaches used in the past in rural area, has implemented another more participative and holistic approach (the Advice for the Family Farming: AFF). This approach aims at improving the decision-making process of the producers and consequently, the improvement of their incomes. This article therefore aims at evaluating the effects of the Advice for the Family Farming (AFF) on the economic performance of cotton producers. The data collection involved 160 randomly selected producers including eighty (80) AFF auditors and eighty (80) non AFF auditors. These data were analysed using the multiple linear regression method. The results showed that the AFF auditor’s cotton producers were economically more efficient than their homologous non-auditors. In fact, the net margin of the auditors was significantly higher than the net margin of their homologous non-auditors as the coefficient of the variable "contact with an AFF facilitator" is positive and significant at the 1% threshold. Accordingly, the net margin of an AFF auditor was increased by 25,294.68 F CFA. The AFF therefore had a positive effect on the net margin of the beneficiaries. However, the adoption of the AFF by the producers has been a major problem. Thus, continuing with the alphabetisation of the producers would be a guarantee for the control of the AFF. Finally, the extension of the approach to other household activities and the inclusion of a larger number of women will help to improve considerably the living conditions of rural populations.