Assessment of Agricultural Credit Sources for Food Crop Marketing in Ondo State of Nigeria

Marketing of food crops in Nigeria is on a declining trend due to the inability of marketers to access proper and efficient agricultural credit to expand their marketing network. Hence, this study aimed to assess the sources of agricultural credit for food crop marketing in Ondo State, Nigeria. Well structured questionnaire was administrated to 120 marketers of food crops in the study area. Descriptive analysis was used to ascertain the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the crop marketer’s economic characteristics and the amount of loan accessed in the study area. The main determinants of the amount of loan collected by the marketers were education, cost of marketing operation and marketers’ income. It was recommended that government should put in best policies that would help to lessen the marketing cost especially transport cost, thus improving the net income of the food crop marketers. Also, extension officers and research institutes should help in training marketers on the conditions and regulations governing the issues and use of credit.