Access to credit and its effect on poultry farmers’ productivity: A case study of layer chicken farmers in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the relevance of the poultry sub-sector to the economy of Nigeria and the capital-intensive nature of poultry production, many poultry farmers are unable to access adequate credit which affects their productivity. This study was therefore conducted to understand the effect access to credit has on farmers’ productivity, with emphasis on layer producers in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 114 layer producers. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Total Factor Productivity, and Tobit regression model. The result of this study showed that though most of the layer producers had access to credit (87.6%), not all of them obtained credit (67.0%) from the sources where credit can be accessed. It also revealed that layer farmers with access to credit (4.88±1.99) were marginally more productive than layer producers without access to credit (4.22±2.22). The study finally revealed that while socio-economic variables such as sex of layer farmers, marital status of layer farmers, household size of layer farmers, and membership of cooperative association significantly influenced productivity of layer farmers, access to credit also significantly influenced the productivity of layer farmers. The study recommended that the government should enforce policies relating to ease of accessing credit from financial institutions.