POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES OF COMMUNITY BANKS IN AGRIBUSINESS FINANCING FOR SMALL FARMERS IN JOS SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE

Capital is regarded as a major factor for expanding production and modernizing Agriculture. The need to provide it to farmers is inevitable because it is an instrument in fostering Agricultural development and for improving efficiency in the production process. The contemporary practice of agriculture requires capital support, which is a handicap to small farmers. A research was conducted in Jos South L.G.A to assess the effectiveness of rural credit delivery system of community banks to provide resources to poor farmers. A set of 65 data collection instruments was administered to farmers and bank officials in a multi-stage random selection technique. Descriptive statistics was adopted to analyse socio-economic characteristics of the farmers while inferential statistics was adopted to test the hypotheses of the study. Findings revealed that majority of the farmers are yet to benefit from community banks (88%). The result of the hypotheses test indicates that information gap, inadequate and timely supply of inputs of production, time of loan disbursement, value of loan package are all statistically significant to sourcing of credit from the bank by farmers. It is recommended that farmer friendly banking policy be adopted to encourage farmers to patronize community banks.Agricultural Finance,

Impact of Diabetes Mellitus on Sexuality in a Developing Country Setting: A Case‑Control Study in Calabar, Nigeria

Background: This study aimed to identify the unmet sexual health needs of the patients with diabetes seen in a tertiary healthcare facility in Nigeria. Methods: Case‑control study design and random sampling method were utilized to recruit type 2 diabetic cases from the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar, Nigeria. Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and International Index for Erectile Function (IIEF) were used to assess sexual function. Result: There were 330 subjects with the mean age of 54.9 years. Among females, the FSFI score was lower among cases compared with controls (18.8 vs. 23.1, P < 0.05). Except for sexual interest, mean scores for all other domains of sexual function were also lower among cases (P < 0.05). Among males, there was no significant difference in overall mean IIEF score comparing cases and controls (40.0 vs. 41.7, P > 0.05). However, mean scores for desire and satisfaction was lower among cases compared with controls (P < 0.05). Older age, unmarried status, presence and duration of hypertension were associated with sexual dysfunction among females. The use of supplements was associated with sexual dysfunction among males (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Sexual dysfunction is common among diabetics with variation in affected domains in both genders in the study setting. These unmet sexual health needs focus to be addressed

POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES OF COMMUNITY BANKS IN AGRIBUSINESS FINANCING FOR SMALL FARMERS IN JOS SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE

Capital is regarded as a major factor for expanding production and modernizing Agriculture. The need to provide it to farmers is inevitable because it is an instrument in fostering Agricultural development and for improving efficiency in the production process. The contemporary practice of agriculture requires capital support, which is a handicap to small farmers. A research was conducted in Jos South L.G.A to assess the effectiveness of rural credit delivery system of community banks to provide resources to poor farmers. A set of 65 data collection instruments was administered to farmers and bank officials in a multi-stage random selection technique. Descriptive statistics was adopted to analyse socio-economic characteristics of the farmers while inferential statistics was adopted to test the hypotheses of the study. Findings revealed that majority of the farmers are yet to benefit from community banks (88%). The result of the hypotheses test indicates that information gap, inadequate and timely supply of inputs of production, time of loan disbursement, value of loan package are all statistically significant to sourcing of credit from the bank by farmers. It is recommended that farmer friendly banking policy be adopted to encourage farmers to patronize community banks