Assessment Of Farmers' Patronage Of Microfinance Services In Ikwuano Lga Of Abiia State

ABSTRACT

Agriculture is an important sector of the economy of most developing countries. It is a source of food, foreign exchange earnings, personal income and raw material for agro-based industries, in a growing or developing economy, agriculture is usually the dominant sector. It is usually the source of growth for the other sectors of the economy Onyebinama (2000). Hence efforts are made by successive government in developing countries including Nigeria to ensure sustainable agricultural development. Nigeria agriculture is dominated by a large number of small-scale producers who are rural dwellers. Their holdings are small (most often less than 2 acres) and are characterized by low productivity. This leads to low income and low capital investment (Nwosu et al, 2000). The present agricultural production technology of the rural fanner is crude and highly labour intensive. It is characterized by widespread shortage of inputs, including labour, seeds and fertilizers. Storage and marketing facilities for agricultural produce are also underdeveloped.