AGRIPRENEURSHIP FINANCING AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT NEXUS IN NIGERIA: PROSPECTS OR PROBLEMS?

Abstract

The incorporation of entrepreneurial principles in managing agribusiness has received a global attention in the recent times. And as such, efforts have been made to investigate the relationship between agripreneurship financing and agricultural development in Nigeria between 1990 and 2018 within the framework of Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square and Granger causality. This study utilized secondary data, and the summary of the findings that emerged is stated as follows; agricultural spending and agricultural output have an insignificant positive relationship. Broad money supply has a significant positive relationship with agricultural output. However, loans to agricultural and forestry businesses have an insignificant negative relationship with agricultural output. Whereas, loans to mining and quarrying businesses and agricultural output have a significant inverse relationship. Also, there is a unidirectional causality which flows from agricultural output to agripreneurship financing. This study therefore concludes that agripreneurship financing has a problem in contributing to agricultural development in Nigeria. Consequently, this study makes the following recommendations. The policy makers in Nigeria should expend a substantial amount of government spending on agricultural sector. Commercial banks should possess a goodwill to disburse substantial part of their loans and advances to agricultural businesses. The Central Bank of Nigeria should revamp agricultural sector through agripreneurship by compelling the commercial banks, via regulation to increase the percentage of their loans and advances to SMEs in agricultural sector.