The Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN, 2014), defined
agricultural financing as promoting the development of the agricultural sector
of the economy by providing credit facilities to household, small and medium
scale farmers” (Nigerian Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme,2014 ). It can be
in form of liquid cash or farm inputs; fertilizers, seed/seedlings, breeder
stocks, feeds, farm equipment and Machinery.
According to Agriculture for Impact, (2017) Agricultural finance is the
provision of multiple types of services dedicated to supporting both on- and
off-farm agricultural activities and businesses including input provision,
production, and distribution, wholesale, processing and marketing.
(CHRIS O. UDOKA, 2013), stated that Women’s access
to the services and products provided by Agricultural finance is limited, and
this has affected their capability to improve their practices and production.
Research has shown that that female-led “agriculture
is underperforming, because women do not have equal access to resources they
need to be productive” (Adamu, Cordelia Ngodoo. 2014). A research by (ACTIONAID,
2010)
highlights the fact that donors are misallocating resources and deepening
inequality: the report found that agriculture budgets and financing have
overwhelmingly failed to focus on women smallholder farmers, and nearly all
agricultural policies ignore the needs and rights of women. As the report
states, “most of this policies and their implementation processes are gender
blinded”.
Omosebi ayeomoni and Saheed A.ALADEJANA, (2016). In their
research and study,(Agricultural Credit and Economic
Growth Nexus.Evidence from Nigeria) showed the correlation of
between agricultural finance and how it can affect economic status. (Orjih, 2002.)
Stated that improved agricultural credits to rural women will empower them and
as well improve the local economic sector from low scale to small scale
enterprises.
Challenges to rural women’s access to agro
finance:
- Family responsibilities/Cultural Norms
( Sanusi Lamido, 2012) showed that Socially
accepted norms and expected family roles have a profound effect on women’s
time, leaving them with less time to work with the agencies responsible for
agricultural financing. In rural Nigeria, research has found that most decisions
related to agriculture are made by men, and this has limited women’s ability to
access credit facilities. Damisa M.A and Yohanna, (2007) study showed that when
it comes to decision making, women’s decision was quite minimal. According to
their study, “in each of the farm operations, less than 20% of the women were
consulted in the sourcing of farm credit; about 13% or less of the women had
their opinion considered in each of the farm operations. However, only between
1.0 and 2.5% took the final decision in all of the farm operations”.
- Biased attitude of banks
Rural women’s access to financial resources, is
also limited by biased lending practices that emerges when financial
institutions discriminate against women, consider them “illiterate” or
inexperienced and therefore less attractive clients (Sanusi Lamido, 2012).
III.
Lack of
Awareness
(Ugwuanyi, 2012.) Stated that
Most rural women generally lack knowledge of the agricultural o financincingal
options or credits available to them, and most times the opportunity cost of
getting this information (in terms of money, time and energy) due to family
responsibilities, societal/gender roles.
Other barrierss include:
inadequate collateral security,
difficult loan process
procedures, and high interest rate. Etc.
(Anayo Nkamnebe,2006),
stated that “understanding policy
formulations with gender mainstreaming will go a long way in shaping how women
have access to financial resources, especially in the agricultural sector”.
He also highlighted that policy makers should facilitate an enabling
environment that will enhance easy access for this rural women to access
finances disposed to them.
References
1) Ngodoo, C., 2014. Inequality Gaps: Issues for Smallholder
Farming in Nigeria. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science,
4(111).
2) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, B., 2012. INCREASING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO
FINANCE: Challenges and Opportunities.
3) Gbemisola Oseni, Markus Goldstein, and Amarachi Utah, 2013.
Gender dimensions in agriculture.
4) . M.A.D. & . M.Y.,
2007. Role of Rural Women in Farm Management Decision Making Process: Ordered
Probit Analysis. Trends in Applied Sciences Research, 2(3), pp.241–245.
Available at: http://www.scialert.net/abstract/?Doi=tasr.2007.241.245 [Accessed
February 12, 2017].
5) . M.A.D., . R.S. &
. M.Y., 2007. Women Participation in Agricultural Production: A Probit
Analysis. Journal of Applied Sciences, 7(3), pp.412–416. Available at:
http://www.scialert.net/abstract/?Doi=jas.2007.412.416 [Accessed February 12,
2017].
Written by :
Kevin Ogbajie
A Gender Equality Advocate in Nigeria.
Written by :
Kevin Ogbajie
A Gender Equality Advocate in Nigeria.
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