The Effect Of Micro Enterprise Financing On Farmers 'Welfare In Abia State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

The overall objective the study is to determine the effect of micro enterprise financing on the well  of farmers in Abia State. Nigeria. Using well structured questionnaire with a total of I (() fanciers. Descriptive statistics and standard wel !ire function was employed in analyzing the effect of micro enterprise financing on welfare. Farmers in the state engage mainly on crop production enterprise and the farmers rely more on in formal credit institution like Esusu for their source of finance. The WCI fare function was regressed to examine the level of well-being and also the effect of this micro enterprise financing on the farmers welfare. Chow-test was used to examine whether there is a difference in the wilier status of Farmers with micro loan and those without micro loan. The results revealed that micro ball, physical assets and household size have a significant positive effect on farmer's welfare. On the other hand welfare was negatively and significantly influenced by farm size and level of education of the household heads. Also there is a difference in the mean welfare of farmers with micro loan and those without micro loan. The study concludes that micro enterprise financing have a fare of farmers in Abia State and thereby suggest that government should provide an enabling environment, finance and policy guideline for micro enterprise development in the state. Also micro enterprise farmers should embrace the use of micro loans for increase productivity, income and food security which will improve the overall welfare of their household.