SOCIO-ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS AND CREDIT SUPPLY TO POULTRY FARMERS IN ODEDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OGUN STATE NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The Agricultural sector in Nigeria has remained one of the largest contributors to the gross domestic product of the nation’s economy contributing an average of 39% of GDP. Since the beginning of the millennium, over 80% of the country’s population living in the rural areas is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for livelihood. “NBS 2005” Livestock sector plays a crucial role in rural economy and livelihood, and access to credit has both direct and indirect effects on farm production. This has examined the factors affecting farmers’ participation in credit market and howsocio-economic dimensions of poultry farmers their suitability to access credit. Variables for this study included household, collateral, level of education, years of experience and farm size against credit supply.

Descriptive and inferential methods were used to analyse the data collected from one hundred (100) poultry farmers within Odeda Local government of Ogun state Nigeria. Instrument use for data collection was poultry farmers’ access to credit questionnaire (PFACQ).

The result shows that Household size and collateral have a significant impact on access to credit from formal and informal financial institution (t-statistics ≥ 1.64 in absolute value terms) while level of education; years of experience and farm size are not statistically significant on credit supply since t-statistics ≤ 1.64. 

The study concluded that credit supply was not dependent on the years of experience, level of education or farm size of poultry farmers but to a certain level, dependent on the Household and the collateral of these farmers. Therefore it is recommended that the government should make loans available to poultry farmers in Nigeria irrespective of their exposure in knowledge, in the business or the available facilities for the poultry farming.

Keywords:     Poultry farming, Credit supply, level of education, years of experience, collateral

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The Agricultural sector in Nigeria has remained one of the largest contributors to the Gross Domestic Product of the nation’s economy. For the past two decades it has contributed an average of 39% of the country’s GDP. Over 80% of the country’s population living in the rural areas is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for its livelihood (NBS, 2005). Livestock sector plays a crucial role in rural economy and livelihood. This is one sector where the poor contributes to the growth directly instead of getting benefit from growth generated elsewhere. In Nigeria, the livestock sector forms an important livelihood activity for most of the farmers, supporting agriculture in the form of critical inputs, contributing to the health and nutrition of the household, supplementing incomes, offering employment opportunities, and serving as a store of wealth in times of need. It acts as a supplementary and complimentary enterprise. Livestock is also important as a part of agriculture diversification and income enhancement. Livestock plays a vital role in the overall economic development of the farm households and nation as a whole.

The prolificacy of livestock which include; goat, pig and poultry are the influencing factors for rearing them. The returns are quick; losses, if any, are recovered soon and the poor can afford them. The multiple species-animal husbandry system is also environmental friendly. Income from livestock production contributes a significant percentage of the total income of rural farm households engaged in agricultural production (Johnson, Perry and Morehart. (1995).  Among livestock – based vocations, poultry occupies a pivotal position because of its enormous potential to bring about rapid economic growth. The importance of the poultry sub-sector is chiefly in the provision of meat and egg as well as the provision of employment either directly or indirectly and the contribution to the revenue (Gross Domestic Product) of the country. The poultry sub-sector of the economy in Nigeria remains chiefly primitive. This is because government, at all levels, has neglected it for a long time. The poultry industry in Nigeria has the highest number of poultry farm in Africa.  Currently, Nigeria has about 10% of the population, and is responsible for less than 15 to 18% employment opportunities, due to the fact that the industry is mainly subsistent.( Afolami (2011), in comparison with other livestock products (e.g. beef, mutton, pork), poultry is considered to be more palatable, having lower level of cholesterol and high protein value (Adegbola, 2000) Egg, a product of the industry, gives about 3.5 g of the total 7.2 g animal protein requires for individual dietary need per day. For developing countries, poultry contributes just about 15% of total animal protein intake, with approximately 1.3 kg of poultry products consumed per head per annum (NLDC, 2000).