ASSESSMENT OF FADAMA FARMERS' ACCESS TO CREDIT IN ONDO STATE

This study attempts to evaluate the access of fadama farmers to credit in Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Five (5) Local government areas (LGAs) were purposively selected and from each LGAs twenty respondents were randomly picked making a total of one hundred (100) respondents. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. The data so collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentages. Regression analysis was run to determine the effect of the various socio- economic variables on respondents’ access to credit. The result showed that 64% of the respondents were between 40-49 years old while 88% of them were married. 71% of the respondent had either primary and secondary and tertiary education. While 69% of them had 4-6 years of fadama farming experience. 81% of the respondent obtained their credit facilities from co-operatives society and NACRDB. The R2 value was 0105 signifying that 10.5% of total variations of access to credit by independent factors were mainly from farming experience and the level of education. Therefore, policy measures should be put in place to liberalise access to credit and education to the respondents