EFFECTS OF ANCHOR BORROWERS PROGRAMME (ABP) CREDIT ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF BENEFICIARY RICE FARMERS IN KEBBI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effects of Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) on the productivity of rice farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to collect data from 221 ABP rice farmers with the aid of structured questionnaire which were analyzed, using descriptive statistics, Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression. The results obtained showed that the average age of the respondents determined was 46years, out of which 69.27% of them were male and 93.21 % married. Majority of the respondents’ primary occupation is farming with an average farming experiences and household size of 20years and 14 persons respectively. The mean productivity index of the ABP rice farmers estimated was 6.24 with the minimum and maximum values of 1.89 and 14.45 respectively. The result on OLS regression which found that ABP credit was statistically significant at 1% level of significance has a positive effect on the productivity of the rice farmers. Lack of awareness, bureaucratic bottlenecks and high interest rate are found to be severe constraints limiting small scale rice farmers’ access to ABP credit. The study however recommended that there is need for rice farmers to be sensitize for effective participation about ABP by Government. There is also need for the Government to constitute monitoring and evaluation committee that will oversee the implementation of the programme according to blue its print.