Abstract

The study assessed effect of agricultural loan on poultry egg production in Ado-Odo Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used for the study. An informal enquiry conducted in the area prior to this formal research revealed that the dominant poultry farmers’ association in the study area is Poultry Association of Ogun State (PANOG).  Data were collected through structural questionnaires and eighty (80) of respondents were randomly selected for the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. It was revealed that majority of the respondents (82.5%) were male while (17.5%) were female, and majority (86.2%) of the poultry farmers in the area were formally educated to the tertiary level which gives the impression that they are well educated thereby, making them to have high level of skill acquisition for the success of their business. Logit regression model was employed to estimate the level of accessibility to loan by the poultry farmers. Analysis of the factors determining the level of loan accessibility result revealed that the coefficients of the selected variables are positive and significant at 1% except for the coefficients of household size, educational attainment, loan received, and interest paid which were not significant. An analysis of the problems revealed that all (100.0%) of the sampled poultry farmers claimed that they face the problem of inadequate fund and capital, pilferage and theft, diseases, unbearable cost of feeding, unstable power supply while 48.8% claimed that they experience the problem of inadequate fund and capital. This implies all the problem (inadequate fund and capital, pilferage and theft, diseases, unbearable cost of feeding, unstable power supply) constitute problems militating against poultry farming in the study area.  Arising from the findings of the study, it is concluded that, 57.6% of the poultry farmers were engaged in farming activities as their main occupation and had less than 6 years experience in poultry farming. Cooperative societies top the list of non- personal source of finance being used in funding the poultry farming business.   The study therefore recommended that Government should provide equitable loan facilities to all the poultry farmers and this will enhance the growth and development of the poultry farms, and will also increase their means of livelihood

Key Words: Loan, Poultry, Business, Farming, Income