EFFECT OF AGRICULTURAL CREDIT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL-SCALE FARMING IN LAVUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined changes in production levels of farmers as a result of their access to credit facilities. The study area is Lavun LGA, Niger State Interview schedule used to elicit information was subjected to reliability test using test- retest method (r = 0.87), while stratified random sampling was used to select 152 respondents from four strata. Data collected were analysed using descriptive (frequency, percentages and mean) and inferential statistics (ANOVA) to test hypotheses stated. Findings revealed that 55.9% of farmers with access to credits recorded large increase in production level. A significant difference for both production (F = 15.094, P<0.05) and income levels (F = 163.566, P<0.05) of farmers with and without credit facilities were also confirmed by ANOVA. Therefore, it was recommended that farmers should be encouraged to form themselves into groups and saving associations so as to facilitate their access to credit

EFFECT OF AGRICULTURAL CREDIT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL-SCALE FARMING IN LAVUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined changes in production levels of farmers as a result of their access to credit facilities. The study area is Lavun LGA, Niger State Interview schedule used to elicit information was subjected to reliability test using test- retest method (r = 0.87), while stratified random sampling was used to select 152 respondents from four strata. Data collected were analysed using descriptive (frequency, percentages and mean) and inferential statistics (ANOVA) to test hypotheses stated. Findings revealed that 55.9% of farmers with access to credits recorded large increase in production level. A significant difference for both production (F = 15.094, P<0.05) and income levels (F = 163.566, P<0.05) of farmers with and without credit facilities were also confirmed by ANOVA. Therefore, it was recommended that farmers should be encouraged to form themselves into groups and saving associations so as to facilitate their access to credit

Effect of Dry Season Tomato Farming on Poverty Alleviation among Women Farmers in Niger State, Nigeria

Generally, the study examines the effect of dry season tomato farming on poverty alleviation among women farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Specifically, it examines the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the women dry season tomato farmers, their major sources of resources for tomato farming, marketing and marketing channels for tomato produced as well as the monthly income generated from the sales of harvested tomatoes and the effect on poverty alleviation in terms of provision for food, clothing, housing, health care and children’s education. Three Local Government Areas (LGAs), from each of the three geo-political zones of the State were purposively selected .A total of 15 villages were randomly selected from these LGAs and based on the preponderance of women tomato farmers, respondents were purposively selected to give a total of 233 . Findings showed that over one-half of the respondents (52.4%), had formal education and married (53.2%), with majority (91.3%), of them having four and more people in their households.Morever,41.6% of the women practiced farming as their major occupation. Furthermore, over two-thirds of them cultivated 0.5ha of tomato farm, while only 2.1% of them cultivated above 1ha. Findings indicated that majority of them had more than four years tomato farming experience and access to farm land was never a problem but many of them (51.9%), relied mostly on family labour. Niger State Agricultural Development (NSADP) plays a leading role in the provision of relevant technical information to most of the women farmers especially, in the areas of improved seed varieties among others. Results showed that many of the women (61.7%),usually sold their produce at the village markets ,mostly every week either in retails or in bulks or both(47.6%) with an estimated monthly income of between N6,000 and N15,000 by many of them (63%).In view of this, their expenditure performances indicated that many of the women farmers were above average in meeting the following basic needs; food (52%), clothing (48.1%), housing (57%),health care (39.9%) and children’s education (19.4%).Generally the effect of dry season tomato farming on poverty reduction as indicated by majority of the women farmers was on the high side. Chi-square tests showed significant relationships between some independent variables and the effect of dry season tomato farming as strategy for poverty reduction; household size ((Χ2=246.29,

Effect of Credit Utilization on Output of Rural Youth Rice Farmers in Shiroro Local Government Area, Niger State

The study aimed at examining the effect of loan utilization on the output of youth rice farmers in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State. The specific objectives are to determine the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, determine whether there is significant difference in output of the beneficiaries and non beneficiaries and compare the mean output of the youth farmers with and without credits facilities. To achieve the study objectives, 100 respondents from 10 wards was used for data collection. The collected data analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and T-test was used to compare the mean output of credit beneficiaries and non- beneficiaries. The study revealed a significant difference in the mean output of rice farmers who utilize loan (1,375kg/h) with those without credit which was (275kg/ha) (t-cal=18.44,

Probit Analysis of Women’s Access to Agricultural Inputs in Bosso Local Government Area, Niger State, Nigeria

The title of the study is Probit analysis of women’s access to agricultural inputs in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to identify the socio-economic characteristics of the women farmers and examine their sources of agricultural inputs as well as their accessibility to these inputs, including problems they faced in accessing the inputs. To achieve these, a total of 140 women farmers were purposively selected from 10 wards of the LGA. Validated Interview Schedule with reliability coefficient of 0.87 was used to collect relevant data from the respondents. Findings revealed that majority of the women farmers were within active productive age of between 21 and 50 years, mostly without formal education (64.3%) and married(81.4%).Also, most of the women engaged in farming either as a full or part time farmers. Similarly, few women had regular access to credit facilities and fertilizer .The problem adduced by the women farmers were discrimination against them and poor rural roads. Furthermore, probit analysis showed that 64% variation in the adequacy of inputs purchased by the women farmers was significantly explained by their access to labour, fertilizer, agro-chemicals and distance between individual farms and points of sales of agricultural inputs .It is recommended that women farmers should be encouraged to form co-operative groups in order to enhance their access to relevant inputs. Similarly, the Local Government Authority should try and rehabilitate the existing rural roads in addition to the construction of other roads with a view to linking the various villages and towns for easy transportation

Resource Productivity Analysis of Small Scale Root and Tuber Crop Farmers in Niger State, Nigeria

The study examined resource productivity analysis of small scale root and tuber crop farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Data used for the study were obtained from primary source using a multi-stage sampling technique with structured questionnaires administered to 150 randomly selected root and tuber crop farmers from the study area. Descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations, frequency distribution table and percentages were used to summarize the variables used in the analysis while data envelopment analysis was used to empirically determine the resource productivity in the study area. The DEA result on the overall technical efficiency of the farmers showed that 6% of the sampled root and tuber crop farmers in the study area were operating at frontier and optimum level of production with mean technical efficiency of 1.00. Decomposition of technical efficiency also showed mean efficiency scores of 0.25 and 0.32 for overall technical efficiency and scale efficiency respectively meaning that, on average, the sampled farms were more scale efficient than they are technically efficient. The study further revealed that most of the farms could reduce total expenditures on the farm land, labour, planting material, agrochemical, fertilizer and capital inputs by 8.17%, 5.17%, 29.53%, 23.71%, 0.09% and 10.08%, respectively without reducing their current level of production. The study therefore recommended that root and tuber crop farmers in the study area should form cooperative societies so as to enable them have access to productive inputs that will enable them expand. This will as well increase efficiency of resource utilization. Also, since few farms were robustly efficient, the farmers in the study area, enhanced research, extension delivery and farm advisory services should be put in place for farmers to learn the best farm practices carried out on the robustly efficient farms. This will go a long way to increase the efficiency level of the farmers in the study area

Analysis of effectiveness of social capital formation among fishing households in Kainji Lake Basin, Nigeria

This study examined the effectiveness of social capital formation on the livelihood of fisher - folks in fishing households in Kainji Lake Basin of Niger State. Multistage sampling technique was employed in the selection of 290 respondents. The Specific objectives are to: i. describe the socio-economic characteristic of the respondents; ii. assess the level of fisher-folk awareness of social capital formation; iii. identify sources of information about social capital formation, and iv. determine effect of social capital formation on fisher-folks households: Data were collected with questionnaire complemented with interview guide. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was employed. Result showed that the mean age of respondents was 42 years; majority (95.2%) were male. More than half (59.2%) had no formal education, 93.7% were married. The mean year of cooperatives was 9 years. The mean year of fishing experience was 22 years, and less than half (45.1%) were members of fish farmers organization. Majority of fisher-folk household had high awareness on bonding (78.6%) while bridging was (76.9%) with linking of (77.6%). Relatives, friends and neighbours (59.7%), were the major sources of information available to the respondents about fishing activities. The social capital formation on bonding relationships shows that (family members, friends and relatives, neighbours) involved closed tie relationship among the fisher-folks was found to be effective, social capital formation on bridging relationships that involved (social groups, organizations and associations within a community) among the fisher-folks was also found to be effectives, social capital formation on linking that involves relationships (between community groups, residents/tenants association, governmental partnership) among the fisher-folks was found to be effective in enhancing active participation in volunteers services, reciprocity and trust among various fisher-folks groups. Regression result shows that household size, experience, and income influenced the effectiveness of social capital formation. Therefore, in conclusion the null hypothesis was rejected, while the alternative hypothesis was accepted. There was high awareness of bonding, bridging and linking social capital by the respondents Therefore, there is need to promote social ties either horizontally or vertically in order to access services that will enhance the economic well-being of the respondents.Keywords: Network Social Capital formatio

Comparative analysis of the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers among yam farmers in Shiroro local government area of Niger state, Nigeria

The broad objective of the study is to comparatively analyse the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers among yam farmers. The specific objectives are to determine farmers preference for the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers , their average yam yields per hectare and the annual income realized from the sales of yam. It also include the examination of various factors militating against the use of both organic and inorganic fertilizers .To achieve this, the study was conducted in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria.The methodology involved a stepwise random sampling of 10 wards, 19 villages and purposive sampling of 131 yam farmers. Primary data were collected with the aid of Interview Schedule that was validated by experts and tested for reliability using Test- retest method ( r = 0.83). Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to analyse data collected for the study. Hypotheses were tested at 5% significant level. Results showed that 40.5% and 59.5% of the farmers preferred the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers respectively. Findings also indicated that there was no significant difference between annual yam yields per hectare, using organic and inorganic fertilizers. However, the study confirmed a significant difference between the income realized from sales of yam by the farmers. This might be connected to different marketing strategies being adopted by individual farmer. It is recommended that Extension Agents (EAs) should encourage farmers to adopt the use of organic fertilizers with a view to complementing the use of inorganic fertilizers which were considered very expensive and not readily available by the yam farmers.Key words: Organic fertilizer, Inorganic fertilizer, Yield, Income, Soil nutrients and Ya