Determinants of Level of Accessibility to Microfinance among Loan beneficiaries of some Commercial Crop Production Farmers in Niger state, Nigeria

The study analyzed the determinants of some selected commercial crop farmers' accessibility to microfinance services in Niger state, Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was used in selecting respondents who were beneficiaries of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) spread across the 3 agricultural zones in the state; from which primary data were collected using questionnaires. A total of 185 crop farmers who are beneficiaries of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) were used in the study. Method of data analysis used was means, frequencies, percentages, and double hurdle analysis. The result revealed that gender, age, education, household size, income, farm size and farming experience are the socio-economic variables influencing commercial crop farmers' access to MFIs. The accessibility of microfinance to crop farmers was found to be determined by household and loan characteristic of the farmers. It showed that there was a significant difference in the total income, farm capital, land size, household size and education level between the two groups of farmers but no significant difference in their age, marital status, farming experience and output level. It was also found out that age, farm size, income, education and household size were factors that significantly affect access to credit. Equally, age, farm size, marital status, cost of loan, education level and farming experience was found to have significant influence on loan size. The study also found that majority of the loan beneficiaries [70%] borrowed above N100,000.00, the average loan borrowed was N145,166.67 at an average interest rate of 15.16% for 10months. Based on the findings of this study, group borrowings should be encouraged by the farmers. In other to facilitate credit access, crop farmers should form groups or cooperatives because financial institution will prefer lending credit to groups than individuals. It is therefore recommended that government policies can capitalize on the socio-economic variables in this study as veritable tools to encouraging accessibility to MFIs.