ABSTRACT

This study aimed at analyzing the determinants of growth and survival of agribusiness enterprises in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to collect crosssectional data among 120 agribusiness enterprises in state. The results showed that the respondents were about 40.31years old with 11.38years of business experience, household size of about 6persons and a credit facility ofN342,459.00. The monthly income ofrespondents was N173,220.83 with current and initial number of employees of about 4persons each. The number of high skilled workers was about 2 persons with a monthly profit ofN102,873.16. The level of growth and survival of agribusinesses were also estimated. The study showed that there was no variation in growth within the three years while there was variation in survival. The study employed the Tobit model to estimate the determinants of growth of agribusiness enterprises in the state. The coefficient for size of the firm was positively related to growth and highly significant at 1% level of probability. The coefficients of location and marital status were negative and highly significant at 1% level of probability. The coefficient of volume of credit and ownership of multiple firms was positively and negatively signed respectively and significant at 5% level of probability. The coefficient of education, ownership of defunct firms and business experience were positively signed, while coefficient of ethnicity was negative and were significant at 10% level of probability. The ordinary least square regression (OLS) analysis was used to estimate the determinants of survival of agribusiness enterprises in the area. The results showed that the coefficient of age ofthe firm had a positive relationship with survival and highly significant at 1% level of probability. The coefficients of high concentration of agribusiness firms and growth were positive while hazard was negatively signed and all significant at 5% level of probability. The coefficients of size ofthe firm, diversity of productmix, number of high skilled workers, productivity and capital were positively signed and location and firm’s operation risk were negative and all significant at 10% level of probability. The 5 point likert scale was used to identify and rate the constraints militating growth and survival of agribusiness firms in the area. The results showed that lack of capital, lack of credit, poor infrastructural facilities, lack of access to information and poor management were the most important factors militating the growth of agribusinesses in the State. The results also showed that lack of credit, poor infrastructural facilities, poor record keeping, lack of capital, and corruption were the most important factors militating against the survival of agribusinesses in the State. The study raises policy issues which, when attended to, might increase the growth and survival of agribusiness enterprises, particularly by promoting human capital formation through training, technical assistance and literacy programmes, as well as developing rural areas, reduction in tax rate for agribusiness to zero percent within their first three years of life, development of sound network between these entrepreneurs and research institutes and other allied sectors.