IMPACT OF THE COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE CREDIT SCHEME ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BENEFICIARIES

ABSTRACT
The study examined the impact of Commercial Agriculture credit scheme on the performance of beneficiaries in Abia State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was applied in selection of respondents for the study. The sample was drawn from members of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN). AFAN has a total of 470 members, out of this member 230 of them have so far benefited from the scheme while 240 are yet to benefit. Thus from 230 beneficiaries, 200 were randomly selected. The data were analyzed using simple frequency and percentages. Results of the data analysis showed that personal saving and cooperatives were their major source of credit. The result of the analysis further shows that the farmers accepted the lack of awareness and access to the scheme due to delays as well as stringent measures by participating banks, collateral requirements and farmers education levels were the major problems encountered by the farmers but agreed weakly to lack of awareness as a problem encountered by farmers in accessing the scheme.