Re-engineering agriculture for enhanced performance through financing

Abstract

Insufficient institutional credit is a major contributor to the persistent poor performance of the Nigerian agricultural sector. To encourage financial institutions to increase lending to the sector, a partial credit guarantee scheme was instituted. The scheme commenced operations in 1978 with an authorized capital of N 100.00 million, subscribed to 60% and 40% by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Nigeria, respectively. This paper presents an appraisal of the scheme. The results revealed that there has been continuous growth in paid-up share capital, total fund resources, maximum amount of loan obtainable by farmers, number and value of loans guaranteed, volume and value of loans fully repaid and volume and value of default claims settled. There was a long-run convergence between the number and volume of guaranteed loans and the agricultural GDP. This finding indicates the need to expand the quantum of funds available for guaranteeing agricultural loans to increase performance of the agricultural sector in the long run. This step is justified by the strategic role of agriculture in the Nigerian economy in terms of food and fiber production, job creation, income generation, poverty reduction and economic stability.

Economic Analysis of Cattle Marketing and Risks Among Traders in North-Central Nigeria

“…The dominance of male in the business, may be attributed to the peculiarity of the location of the study area, and similarly could be associated with its tradition, culture and belief which restrict the female gender from participation in certain activities and thus classified some categories of activities or task to either male or female. Mafimisebi, Bobola and Mafimisebi (2013) in their study on the Fundamentals of cattle marketing in Southwest Nigeria revealed that majority (87.5%) of sampled respondents were males while only 12.5% were females. This shows that the male sex dominates cattle marketing activities in the study area.…”

“…Livestock business is a source of employment and livelihood in Nigeria. Cattle are the most popular and highly valued livestock in Nigeria (Mafimisebi, Bobola and Mafimisebi, 2013). Nigeria is among the leading countries in cattle business in sub-Saharan Africa (Girei, Dire and Bello, 2013).…”

“…The process of moving the cattle from where they are surpluses to where they are shortages is known as arbitraging. An understanding of this process will enhance the efficient working of cattle markets, which is important in achieving sustainable and profitable agricultural commercialization in the livestock sub-sector in North-Central Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general (Mafimisebi, Bobola and Mafimisebi, 2013;Musa, Iheanacho and Nyiatagher, 2018). Livestock enterprises encounter various risk factors during their entire process, i.e.…”

“…Therefore, studying risk factors is important for both producers and marketers involved in cattle business. According to Filani (2006) and Mafimisebi et al (2013), the supply of cattle and its products has witnessed a decline while the demand has been increasing with the result being a shortfall in the supply. The domestic supply of animal protein is growing at 1.8 percent while the overall demand is estimated to rise at 51 percent.…”

Influence of Improved Open Pollinated Maize Variety Adoption on Livelihood Status of Farmers in Niger State, Nigeria

“…Agricultural sector is crucial to the Nigerian economy both in terms of source of food and income to a greater part of the society (Mafimisebi et al, 2010). It is a significant sector of economy with several potentials for provision of employment, food security and poverty alleviation (Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD, 2011).…”