Analysis of formal microcredit transaction costs incurred by arable crop farm-households in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study estimates the magnitude and determinants of transaction costs incurred by smallholder arable crop farm-households in formal microcredit market in Akwa Ibom State. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed in choosing 108 beneficiaries of formal microcredit. A structured questionnaire was used for the collection of primary data from the respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to calculate the magnitude of transaction costs incurred by the households in the microcredit market and multiple regression technique was employed in determining the significant factors that influence the transaction costs incurred by households in the market. The result obtained showed that the most important transaction cost component was opportunity cost of time (₦ 5576.41), followed by travelling cost (₦ 3272.62). The study also showed that loan size, interest cost and waiting period had significant positive relationship with microcredit transaction cost at 1%; distance to lending institution and savings were both positively signed but significantly related to transaction cost at 10% while education had a significant negative relationship with transaction cost at 1%. To drastically reduce microcredit transaction costs, policies that will enable farmers to attain higher level of education are advocated; credit administrative procedure that is less time wasting should be put in place in financial institutions that offer microcredit to ensure timely disbursement of microcredit facilities to farm households; and sanction in the form of heavy monetary fine should be meted out to financial institutions that fail to ensure timely disbursement of microcredit facilities to farmers. Keywords: Microcredit, transaction costs, arable crop, and household

Determinants of productivity of farmland in Imo State

The study analysed the determinants of productivity of farmland in Imo State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected using a set of structured  questionnaires from 60 food crop farmers who were selected through purposive and random sampling techniques. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and econometric tools. The results showed that majority of the respondents were young in their active years, with a mean age of 45 years, married, mostly females, had mean level education of 8 years and mostly farming as their major occupation. The results also showed that the food crop farmers had adequate labour force of a mean 7 persons per household and cultivated an average farm size of 1.06 hectares. The result of the productivity of farmland was 4.03, which showed high productivity. From the results also, the exponential function is the lead equation. The study concluded that farmlands in Imo state are productive and are determined by farm size, location, distance, quantity of fertilizer used, type of soil and duration of tenancy. The study advocated for food crop farmers to form a cooperative to enable them pool their resources together for gaining larger farmlands, fertilizer and other farm inputs. Keywords: Farmland, Determinants, Productivity, Imo state