This paper analyzes the importance of cooperative institutions in the Brazilian market of rural credit, focusing on the vision of those who demand loans. For that, a study case was promoted regarding the Rural Credit Cooperative of Sugarcane Suppliers and Cattle Farmers in the Piracicaba Region (Cocrefocapi). The main objective is to show the importance of Cocrefocapi to finance sugarcane suppliers from Piracicaba, analyzing the influence of some factors in the decision of sugarcane suppliers, in order to choose this cooperative as the main financing institution. Two econometric models of qualitative response and a set of descriptive analysis were developed in this study. Results show that the land size is one factor which should be included when the demand for agricultural credit is analyzed. In addition, the econometric evidence shows that, bigger participation in the institutional capital of Cocrefocapi is not a factor which incentives members to borrow money in this Cooperative. On the other hand, although sugarcane suppliers who took loans in Cocrefocapi have chosen this institution because of lower transaction costs, results demonstrate that many of these people took loans in other institutions because they had other economic activities, which are not financed by Cocrefocapi.
rural credit; credit cooperatives; transaction cost; institutional capital
