Effects of Anchor Borrowers Programme on Rice Farming in Benue State, Nigeria

The study analyzed effects of Anchor Borrowers Programme on rice farming in Benue State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 125 beneficiary rice farmers of the anchor borrowers’ programme. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis and factor analysis. The results from the multiple regression analysis revealed that productivity of beneficiary rice farmers was positively and significantly determined by farm size at P≤ 0.01 but negatively influenced by seed and fertilizer at P≤0.01 and P≤ 0.05 levels. The R2 of 0.43 implies that 43% of the variability in rice productivity was accounted for by explanatory variables included in the model. The result of the amount of credit/inputs and mode of loan repayment revealed that beneficiary rice farmers in the study area had mostly from the programme received N50, 000.00 and paid back their loan mostly as part-payment in cash. Certain limited factors such as socio-economic factors, economic factors and institutional factors had constrained farmers’ access to credit and other inputs from the programme. It was concluded that rice production by the beneficiary rice farmers in the study area was not optimally productive. The study recommended that farmers should be advised to expand their farm lands to ensure efficient utilization of resources for increased productivity. Also, policies that will make credit accessible to farmers will go a long way in addressing their inefficiency problems.