ABSTRACT

The study examined "the effect of commercial banks credit on poultry egg production in Abia State, Nigeria. Using a well structured questionnaire, primary data were collected from a sample of sixty (60) farmers comprising twenty (20) poultry egg farmers that received production credit from commercial banks and forty (40) poultry egg farmers that did not receive production credit from commercial banks. Data collected were analyzed using statistical tools such as: frequencies, percentages, averages and regression. The result of data analysis showed that the mean age of the farmers is 47years for credit beneficiaries and 41years for non-credit beneficiaries, implying that, majority of them are energetic and still able to do poultry farm work. The mean farming experience of the poultry egg farmers is 20 years for those that received production credit and I 6years for those that did not receive production credit, showing that most poultry egg farmers were highly experienced and as such can efficiently manage resources. F'urthennore, 90% of those that received credit acquired one form of education or the other, while about 50% of those that did not receive credit did not acquire any form of education, implying that credit are enquired for, mostly by educated farmers, while the uneducated are not well informed about the importance of credit to production. The result in the regression models shows that credit has a positive effect on the output of eggs produced. Delay in the release of loan, insufficient loan released, politicizing loan allocation, and high cost of processing loans constituted set backs on the effect of credit on egg-production. The output showed that, there is a difference in the mean output of poultry farmers that obtained production credit and those without. it was also revealed that commercial banks grant loans, less than what the amount demanded by poultry egg farmers. Based on the results, it is recommended that loan should be released on time and given on a regular basis to genuine poultry egg farmers since egg-production are time hound.