Determinants of participation in credit market among the farmers in Northern Nigeria

As Nigeria continues to strive hard to enhance its key economic indicators, economic growth alone will not be sufficient in tackling absolute poverty in the country. In fact,poverty eradication requires more fundamental issues being addressed, especially access to agricultural credit by the rural poor as a major factor.Agricultural credit is more than just other resources such as fertilizer and machineries where it provides access to all other resources.It improves farm productivity and farm performance, which lead to a remarkable improvement in farm income and farmers’ welfare.Therefore, this study examined the key determinants of demand for agricultural credit in Nigeria.The study is aimed at estimating and identifying the socio-economic variables that are responsible for influencing farmers’ decision to participate in credit market.In order to achieve the objectives, primary data was sourced through random sampling.This involves the random selections of the localities and the grass root participants.Our finding reveals that those with higher educational qualification among the farmers are more likely to participate in agricultural credit market than those with lower qualification or non-formal educated farmers.On the other side, higher off-farming commitment was also found to reduce the likelihood of participation in credit market.Consequently, the credit participation model in this study recommends for the provision of extension services to the farmers and changes in key agricultural policy, there by encouraging micro businesses in the rural areas