The changing phase of farm credit delivery in Nigeria: a review of nature, characteristics and accessibility

An inadequate and inappropriate credit facility is widely regarded as the main constraint to the development of agricultural business enterprises in rural economies. There is a limit to which the players in the sub-sectors can exert their full potentials because of the limitation imposed by the resources at their disposal. Farmers have been exploring different avenues for ages to augment their meager savings and manage their farm business operations. A close examination of these avenues and ensued farmers patronage reveals three distinct but non-exclusive phases. Farming operations improved as farmers moved through these successive phases to access credit.