Economics Assignment范文:Ogun State Agricultural And Multipurp

Economics Assignment范文:Ogun State Agricultural And Multipurpose Credit Agency 

 

小额信贷在解决农民生产问题，实现小规模的发展，在其规定政府机构和其他正式机构的参与正在增加。农业发展是一个过程，涉及到采用改进的技术，新的和更好的做法，农民尤其是小规模的农民，但这一切做法必须购买和财务结果的获得只有少数农民有资金的财务资源。最常见的农业融资形式包括政府部门分配在年度国家预算，信贷计划，直接价格补贴的投入，并通过赠款。

 

The realization of microcredit as a panacea in addressing production problems among small scale farmers has necessitated the increased involvement of government agencies and other formal institutions in its provision.

 

This study was carried out in Egba zone of Ogun state to assess the effects of the micro-credit of Ogun state agricultural and multipurpose credit agency (OSAMCA) on cassava farmers that are beneficiaries. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select a total of 90 respondents from the sample frame of the targeted population study.

 

Data were collected by using an interview guide. The data collected were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, chi-square, t-test and correlation.

 

The result showed that 77% of the respondents were male. Also, majority(61%) of the respondents were in the age range of 41-50 years and have 63% having one form of education or the other. Also, 79% practice traditional farming system while 52% have benefited more than once. Although only few(26%) had formal farm training while 72% belong to faming groups.

 

The correlation result showed that there exist a significant relationship between the farming experience and the effect recorded(r=0.31, p< 0.05) also the chi-square analysis for farming system(χ2 = 11.28) show a significant relationship between it and the effect of the credit on their farming activities at 0.05 significant level. The t-test value showed a significant difference in the farm capacity before and after the credit procurement.

 

The study therefore recommended that proper measure be put in place to sustain the positive effect observed and also more extension package should be put in place for the beneficiaries.

 

Keywords; Microcredit, farming activities, cassava farmers.

 

Introduction

In Africa, cassava is gradually being transformed from a famine-reserve commodity and rural food staple to a cash crop for urban consumption. (Sanni et al: 2004)

 

Nigeria is the world's largest cassava producer; a third more than production in Brazil and almost double the production of Indonesia and Thailand. Cassava is a very versatile commodity with numerous uses and by products. Each component of the plant can be valuable to its cultivator. The leaves may be consumed as a vegetable, or cooked as a soup ingredient or dried and fed to livestock as a protein feed supplement. The stem is used for plant propagation and grafting. The roots are typically processed for human and industrial consumption. (Sanni et al: 2004).

 

In Nigeria, the consumption pattern varies according to ecological zones. Garri, a roasted granule is the dominant product and is widely accepted in both rural and urban areas.

 

Cassava (Manihot esculentum) belongs to root and tuber crop family. It has underground roots which can be consumed by man and livestock after processing. It has other advantages like it can grow in relatively poor soil and low rainfall area. The roots is relatively high in carbohydrate which form the staple food of the west Africa after rice and maize as it can be processed into different forms which include fufu, starch, garri, cassava flour and others. Cassava is of two major types i.e. sweet cassava(Manihot palmita) and bitter cassava(M.ultilisomona). Varieties of cassava include TME3399,TME419,Texaco,Odongbo,Idileru e.t.c (Iwena: 2002).

 

Agricultural development is a process that involve adoption of improved technologies, new and better practices by farmers especially small scale farmers but all this practices have to be purchased and finance for their result to be obtained but only few farmers have the financial resources to finance it. The most common form of agricultural financing include Government sectoral allocation in the annual national budget, credit programmes, direct price subsidy of input and through grants.

 

Agricultural credit is an essential input along with modern technology for higher productivity. credit is not only obtained by the small scale and marginal farmers for survival but also by large scale farmers for enhancing their productivity and income.

 

Credit is an important factor in the strategy for agricultural development. It is in recognition of this that government put in place credit policies and established institutions and schemes that would facilitate the flow of credit to farmers. According to Badiru (2010) Credit institutions can be categorized into three groups;

 

a. formal institutions such as commercial banks, Nigerian Agricultural Co-operative and Rural Development Bank(NACRDB) and state owned credit agencies like OSAMCA.

 

b. semi-formal institutions such as NGOs, MFI and cooperative societies.

 

c. informal institutions such as money lenders, relatives, rotating saving and credit societies(esusu) etc. It has been noted that access to any of the category has a role in the outcome of the credit usage.

 

The government at different tiers had initiated also different programmes and scheme to provide credit. In Ogun state, the state government established OSAMCA in 2003 to provide credit for farmers in order to enhance their productivity and welfare. It is in this view that the agency initiated its microcredit scheme in 2004 for farmers at 12% interest rate with the utmost aim that it would translate into increased and improved productivity. The micro credit scheme targets individual farmers, cooperative societies and others with crop farmers being a major beneficiaries since inception.(OSAMCA Bulletin, 2006).

 

However, since the availability of credit does not literally translate into improved livelihood and is only a necessary but not a sufficient condition for poverty reduction there is a need to understand the effect of this credit on the farming activities of participating cassava farmers in the zone. It is against this background that the study objectives were to;

 

Describe the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers.

 

Determine the amount of credit procured from OSAMCA.

 

Determine the effect of the credit in terms of the farm capacity on farming activities.

 

Describe the perception of the farmers on the effect of the credit on their farming activities.

 

Determine the relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers and the effect of the credit on their farming activities.

 

Determine if there exist any significant difference between the farm capacity before and after the credit procurement.

 

Methodology 方法论

The study was carried out in the Egba geopolitical zone of Ogun state between January and February 2011. The state is one of the states in the southwestern part of Nigeria and the state has four geopolitical zones including Egba, Yewa, Ijebu and Remo zones. The zone comprises of six Local Government Areas namely Abeokuta south, Abeokuta north, Ewekoro, Ifo, Obafemi owode and Odeda Local Government Areas.

 

The zone has an evergreen vegetation with trees and this favour the cultivation of many food crops. It has two distinct seasons with about 7-8 months of rainfall occurring between April and October. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 90 beneficiaries in the study area out of a list of 486 farmers. Interview guide was designed to collect information from the farmers on their socio economic characteristics and their cassava farming activities.

 

Independent variables measured include age, marital status, level of education, household size, other occupation, farming experience and farming system. Others include the amount of credit and the farm capacity. The dependent variable which is the effect and their perception of the effect on their farming activities which was measured on a 5 point scale of Strongly agree= 5, Agree= 4, Undecided= 3, Disagree= 2 and 1= Strongly disagree. The expected maximum score was 70 while the minimum score was 14. This was later categorised as 14-33 as low effect, 34-53 as average effect and 54-70 as High effect.

 

Frequency distribution, mean and percentages were used to depict some of the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers in the study area. Chi-square and correlation were used to determine the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and the effect, while t-test was used to determine if any significant difference exist between the farm capacity before and after the credit procurement.

 

Results and discussion.结果与讨论。

Socioeconomic characteristics 社会经济特征#p#分页标题#e#

Table 1 reveals that the mean age of the sampled farmers was 49years with majority (61%) falling within the age bracket of 41-50 years. This implies that a large percent of them fall in the productive age which can perform strenuous task, adopt innovation, are more risk takers and also the ability to repay back the loan. This finding supports the findings of Adegbite and Olaoye(2009) who also reported a larger percentage within the age bracket of 20-50 years. Also results of the study show that 77% of the respondents were male while 23% were females. This upholds the opinion that males are involved more in farming activities because of the strenuous task involved while the women are involved in processing, distribution and marketing as opined by Adegbite(2009). The result of the study showed that majority of them are married(81%). Also the result support the finding of Fapojuwo(2010) that a great importance is still attached to the marriage institution.

 

Result in Table 1 reveals that majority of the farmers(63%) have one form of formal education or the other. The result support s that of Adegbite and Olaoye (2009) that majority of the farmers are not stark illiterates but semi-literates who are either drop out or could not complete their formal education. The finding of the result shows that the mean household size of the rural family was 6 with 3 and 14 being the minimum and maximum sizes respectively. This supports the opinion that rural families have large family size which therefore supply the bulk of labour on the farm which in turn have effect on the productivity of the farm.(Adegbite, Olaoye and Oloruntoba 2009).

 

The result of the study as indicated in Table 1 shows that mean years of farming experience was 17years. This high level of experience may be a factor responsible for some of the effect recorded and influence the ability to repay. Majority (72%) of the respondents belong to one farming or agricultural based group. This membership of association enable respondents share knowledge on adopting and usage of better practices and are conscious in repayment.

 

Results also revealed that only a smaller portion(21%) practice farming using machines(semi mechanized system) while majority of the farmers(79%) still practice farming using the traditional(manual) system of hoe and cutlass. The study revealed that 81% of the farmers have other sources of income that may be used to augment their earnings from the farm. The result also showed that 21% of the farmers employs full family labour in their activities while 79% employ the service of hired labour. It was also observed that those that still hired labour still employed the usage of family labour in an unquantifiable form.

 

Credit procurement 信用采购

The findings of the study reveals that 50% and 34% of the farmers obtained loans 2005 and 2006 respectively. This may be adduced to the availability of funds during those years. The findings also revealed that 48% of the respondents have benefitted from the microcredit of the agency only once, while 44% have and 8% have benefitted twice and thrice respectively. This shows that when loan are repaid in due time there is tendency for them to benefit more than once and hence sustain the level of progress.

 

Effects of the credit on the farm capacity 信贷对农业能力的影响

The difference in the capacity of the farm before the credit procurement and after the procurement is indicated in Table 3. Table 3 reveals that only 80% of the farmers practice intercropping before the procurement as against 92% after the procurement. This shows that there was an increase in the number of those that practice intercropping. For fertilizer, it shows that only 27% used fertilizer before the credit while 76% used after the credit.

 

The findings also showed that the mean labour was 4 and 5 before and after the procurement respectively. Also, the mean cultivated land area rose from 0.7ha to 0.8ha before and after the procurement respectively. The mean farm income before credit was N72,640 and N112,448 after the procurement.

 

The result showed that only 9% of the farmers used exotic or improved varieties such as TMS3399, TMS419 etc. while after the credit increased to 15%.

 

The improvement or increase(differences) observed in the farm capacity observed was an indicator of the positive effect of the credit. The general improvement level in all the capacity indicator was an evidence of the positive effect the loan had on the production process as well as their livelihood.

 

Perception of the farmers on the effect of the credit.农民对信用影响的认知。

The results showed that the respondents were of the opinion that the change in their income can be adduced to the credit (X=4.52), the loan had increased their level of production(X=4.49) and that they are generally fulfilled taking the loan(X=4.28) as presented in Table 4a. This is an indication that most of the respondents were of the opinion that OSAMCA microcredit had impacted favorably on them.

 

Results in table 4b indicates that 50% of the farmers perceived the credit as having an average effect on their farming activities while 43.3% have a high perception. It corroborates the effect also recorded on the farm indicators as indicated in Table 3.

 

Relationship between the socio-economic characteristics and effects of OSAMCA's microcredit.

The hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between the socio economic characteristics of the farmers and the effect of OSAMCA's microcredit on the farming activities of the participating cassava farmers was tested using chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation(PPMC).

 

Result of the chi- square analysis reveals a significant association between the farming system and the effect of the microcredit(χ2 = 11.28; p<0.05) this implies that the farming system affect the way by which the credit has and the way it is affect the farm capacity. However, there were no significant associations between sex(0.56, p< 0.05), marital status(1.12, p< 0.05) and education level(5.07, p< 0.05) and the effect of the microcredit. The correlation analysis shows that there was a significant relationship between farming experience and the effect of OSAMCA's microcredit on their farming credit activities(r= 0.31: p< 0.05). This means that the personal and social factors does not affect the impact of the credit on the farmers but only the farming system and experience would have an effect on the farming activities. This means that as the farming experience increases the better the effect or the more positive effect recorded.

 

Result of t-test between the farm capacity before and after credit procurement.

The hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the farm capacity before and after the credit procurement was tested using t-test.

 

The results showed that there exist a significant difference in the labour size (4.67, p< 0.05), farm income(8.99, p< 0.05) and cultivated land area(3.77, p< 0.05). This means that there was a significant observed difference in the farm capacity which can be attributed to the credit obtained. With the increased and improved farm capacity indicator the farmers will be able to purchase more input and cater for expansion programmes. The increase in farmers income will increase the purchasing power of the farmer to purchase more input needed on the farm for farming activities therefore leading to more output which in turn leads to more saving ability in order to break the vicious cycle of poverty

 

Therefore the null hypothesis should be rejected while the alternative hypothesis should be accepted.

 

Conclusion and recommendation 结论与建议

Based on the findings of this study it can be concluded that disbursement of credit by formal lending institutions to farmers help to promote their productivity and efficiency level as well as their farming activities which in turn improve their welfare status, standard of living and sustain their livelihood. The increase in farmers income will increase the purchasing power of the farmer to purchase more input needed on the farm for farming activities therefore leading to more output which in turn leads to more saving ability in order to break the vicious cycle of poverty

 

Therefore credit disbursement to farmers at low interest rate should continue as the effect are positive most especially in the farm capacity indicator where all of them showed a significant increase. Although, the credit has not been able to improve the technical know-how of the farmers as majority do not agree with the fact that the effect of the credit extends to their technical know-how. Factors that significantly affected the effect of the credit were found to be farm training, farming system and farming experience of the beneficiaries.

 

Based on the findings the study recommends that sustenance mechanism be put in place because it is now known from the study that there are positive effect so that such effect could last over a longer period of time. Also extension education and services should be made available in order to increase the technical know- how of the farmers for improved output and also for them to be aware and adopt better production practices. This extension services should be integrated alongside the credit disbursement. This could be in form of periodic enlightenment, review and technical information meetings. This could be achieved by involving or in cooperation with other agencies charged with this responsibility in order to have more positive effect and also to sustain such effect on their faming activities.#p#分页标题#e#