EFFECT OF BANK OF AGRICULTURE SERVICES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effect of Bank of Agriculture services on the performance of smallholder farmers in North Central Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined the effect of loan services and advisory services on the performance of smallholder farmers in North Central, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design where a sample of 398 smallholder farmers were sampled from a population of 77,618 beneficiaries of BoA services. Data were collected using questionnaire and analyzed using multiple regression analysis with the aid of SPSS. The study revealed that loan ser-vice has a significant negative effect on performance while advisory service has insignificant posi-tive effect on performance of smallholder farmers. Consequently, the study recommends that smallholder farmers should only seek loans from BoA when they are needed for expansion of busi-ness operations not ignoring the need to obtain loans with flexible conditions and relatively favour-able interest rates. Also, that small-holder farmers should regularly seek advisories and clarifica-tions from BoA especially in areas they feel/seem not to understand as it may affect loans repay-ment and other business operations.