Anchor borrowers programme in nigeria: accessibility and production of agricultural commodities among small farm holders

Agricultural sector has been tipped to take over oil sector in driving the economy of Nigeria. The quest to tackle the problems bedeviling the agricultural sector and help Nigeria get out of the recurrent recessions occasioned by over dependence on oil revenue, necessitated the launch of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) in 2015. In the light of this, the study aims examining the accessibility of the Anchor Borrowers Programme funds by the small farm holders and ascertained if the Anchor Borrowers Programme has stimulated the production of agricultural commodities among small farm holders. In this study, we have a total of two hundred and seventy five (275) people as the population, which consists of the entire staff of the selected Deposit Money Banks (DMBs); the selected Microfinance Banks (MFBs); the staff of NIRSAL in Umuahia and the selected small holder farmers. However we used the Godden (2004) sample size determination formula and arrived at a sample size of one hundred and ninety-seven (197). Bowley’s proportional allocation formula was used to allocate the determined sample size to the different groups of financial institutions and the small holder farmers. The study adopted the Z-test analytical technique and found that the unfriendliness of the staff of the bank contributes largely to the impediments encountered by small holder farmers in accessing the fund available by the ABP. The study further revealed that ABP sharing of improved farm inputs is next the factor that stimulates production of agricultural commodities in Nigeria. The implication of this result is that even though accessing the funds from the bank is not easy, the efforts of extension workers and other experts has been encouraging in stimulating agricultural commodities among the small farm holders.