ABSTRACT

Micro credit must be made more operational and effective in this country since the bulk of the farmers are rural based small scale agriculturalists that lack access to the regular institutional sources of finance. This study examined the effect of rural household access to microcredit on poverty status in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State. A multistage random sampling technique was adopted to select 80 household heads which represent the sample size. A well structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using both descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean and percentage and inferential statistics such logistic regression model. The results of the socio-economic characteristics revealed that majority (3 3.75%) of the farming household were within the age of 26-3 5 year. There were more male than females in study. A greater percentage (55%) of the population had family members. Majority (78%) of the respondents have formal education. On average the farming household has spent about 12 years in farming. The farmers in the study area have the mean household of 4 persons. Overwhelming majority farmers had had above 1.0 hectare of land under cultivation. Majority (56.3%) of the respondent are engaged in farming. Majority (76.67%) of the farmers are member of farmers association. Econometric analysis from the logistic regression model shows that coefficient of variables relating to Age (X1 ), marital status(X2) Experience (X4), Capital (X5), Association (X6), Distance (X7), Education (X8) and Extension (X9) are the significant variables or determinants of access to microcredit. The head count poverty indices of the respondents showed that most (73.75 %) of the respondents were non- poor, indicating that 59 households were above the poverty threshold. Multiple regression result on_Age, level of education, farm size, household income and microcredit farming experience, were significant Factors Influencing poverty level of the respondent. The study recommend effective targeting with educational programmes and most importantly, availability and accessibility of rural households to micro credit facilities in order to improve their income earning opportunities thereby enhancing their welfare and poverty reduction in the rural areas are required