ABSTRACT
This
study analysed the
effect of liquidity constraint on performance among selected smallholder
agribusiness entrepreneurs in Abia State, Nigeria. It specifically examined the socio-economic
characteristics of the selected smallholder agribusiness entrepreneurs in Abia
Stae, examined the
cost of funds available to them, analysed
performance among the entrepreneurs, examined the
effect of liquidity constraint and other factors on
their
performance, the factors militating against access to
liquidity among the respondents, and the
extent liquidity constraint affected their
performance in Abia State. Primary data were used. The study made use
of a multistage sampling technique in selecting
respondents in which the 3
agricultural zones of the State were selected,
1 local
government area was randomly selected from each of the
agricultural zones of the State, and 25 agribusiness entrepreneurs
were randomly selected from each of the LGAs to give a sample size
of 75 respondents. Regrettably, out of the 75
questionnaire administered and retrieved from the respondents, 73 were
found useful and used for the analysis. Various
descriptive and inferential analytical tools such as financial ratios, regression
analysis were used in data analysis. Results showed that most of the smallholder agribusiness entrepreneurs in Abia State, Nigeria
were single (53.42%), males (52.05%) with a mean age of 42 years, who ventured mostly
into poultry business (24.66%), fish
farming (20.55%), crops production (12.33%) and produce sell (12.33%). They
funded their business through debt financing (100.0%), equity (98.63%) and lease (89.04%). They enhanced their
enterprise through distribution channels (49.32%)
and supply chain (27.40%), and increased their performance through market
shares (43.84%) and sales volume (31.51). On the cost of funds that affected
their enterprises, debt financing had the highest total cost of (N1,176,000), followed by equity financing (N1,062,600). Smallholder agribusiness entrepreneurship in the area was profitable
given a return
on investment of 1.22 per annum. The
Ordinary Least Square regression result on effect of liquidity
constraint and other factors on the performance of the entrepreneurs in the
study area revealed that the exponential
functional form gave the best fit result based on the
magnitude of the coefficient of multiple determination (0.869),
the number of significant variables, the agreement of the signs borne by the
coefficients of the variables as well as the significance of F-ratio (7.59***). Liquidity constraint (1.0%), sex (1.0%),
cost of operations (1.0%) and cost of funds (1.0%) negatively affected the performance of the respondents, while
education (1.0%) and experience (1.0%)
positively affected it. Insufficient land (
IHEANYI, V (2024). Effect of Liquidity Constraint on Performance among Selected Smallholder Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in Abia State, Nigeria:- Onwuegbuchi, Iheanyi V.. Repository.mouau.edu.ng: Retrieved Dec 09, 2024, from https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/effect-of-liquidity-constraint-on-performance-among-selected-smallholder-agribusiness-entrepreneurs-in-abia-state-nigeria-onwuegbuchi-iheanyi-v-7-2
VINCENT, IHEANYI. "Effect of Liquidity Constraint on Performance among Selected Smallholder Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in Abia State, Nigeria:- Onwuegbuchi, Iheanyi V." Repository.mouau.edu.ng. Repository.mouau.edu.ng, 06 May. 2024, https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/effect-of-liquidity-constraint-on-performance-among-selected-smallholder-agribusiness-entrepreneurs-in-abia-state-nigeria-onwuegbuchi-iheanyi-v-7-2. Accessed 09 Dec. 2024.
VINCENT, IHEANYI. "Effect of Liquidity Constraint on Performance among Selected Smallholder Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in Abia State, Nigeria:- Onwuegbuchi, Iheanyi V.". Repository.mouau.edu.ng, Repository.mouau.edu.ng, 06 May. 2024. Web. 09 Dec. 2024. < https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/effect-of-liquidity-constraint-on-performance-among-selected-smallholder-agribusiness-entrepreneurs-in-abia-state-nigeria-onwuegbuchi-iheanyi-v-7-2 >.
VINCENT, IHEANYI. "Effect of Liquidity Constraint on Performance among Selected Smallholder Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in Abia State, Nigeria:- Onwuegbuchi, Iheanyi V." Repository.mouau.edu.ng (2024). Accessed 09 Dec. 2024. https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/effect-of-liquidity-constraint-on-performance-among-selected-smallholder-agribusiness-entrepreneurs-in-abia-state-nigeria-onwuegbuchi-iheanyi-v-7-2