Level and Determinants of Women Farmers Access to Informal Credit in Abia State, Nigeria

The study analyzed level and determinants of women farmers access to informal credit in Abia state, Nigeria. The study described socio-economic characteristics of the women farmers who accessed microcredit from informal sources; ascertained level of access to informal micro-finance; and determined socio-economic factors that influenced access to informal micro-finance. Primary data were collected from two hundred and thirty three (233) women farmer informal credit beneficiaries using multi-stage random sampling technique. The data were analyzed using likert scoring and descriptive statistics, and probit regression estimation. As large as 60.94% of the women had farm size of between 0.1 and 1.0 hectares with a mean of 15 years farming experience. Majority 72.10% of the respondents had no contact with extension agents and cumulatively 85.84% of the women had formal education with 73.82% of them married. Also, 63.52% of them did not belong to any agricultural association. They had relatively higher level of access to loans from friends and relatives compared to other informal credit sources. Probit regression estimate showed that educational level, gross monthly income and membership of association exerted positive significant influences at varied critical levels. Other factors namely farming experience and farm size exerted negative significant influences at varied critical levels. Policies should be made to forge strong linkages between informal and formal financial institutions to ensure that agricultural loans are channeled from formal financial institutions to women farmers through recognized informal credit units. The synergy from such linkage will increase women farmers’ productivity.