Abstract:
This study examined and assessed the effects of credit availability and utilization on Food
Marketing among Food Crops Marketers in Ondo and Ekiti States. Its objective included, identifying the sources of agricultural credit to Food Crops' Marketers, investigating the financial problems confronting Food Crops' Marketers in the study area, estimating the credit needs of these marketers and determining the effects of credit utilization on the Food Crops Marketers' Income.
It was carried out in the two Local Government Areas (LGAS) of Akure in Ondo State and
Oye in Ekiti State, with the aid of structured questionnaires administered to 21 Financial Institutions and to 130 Food Crops' Marketers from the two LGAS. Data analysis entailed the use of Frequencies and Percentages, Paired T-Test, as well as Multiple Regression. Major findings from the study include; Majority of the respondents having low education which resulted in low ability of good communication; the marketers having large numbers of dependents, leading to increased demand for consumptive items such as feeding, school fees, clothing, medical expenses, etc. As regards gender among the food crops marketers, it was discovered that women predominate in foodstuff marketing.
Food Crops' Marketers in the study area considered friends and relations, 'Esusu' Institutions, Money Lenders, Local Businessmen and Traders, Cooperative Society and the Nigerian Agricultural and Co-operative Bank (NACB) as their important sources of credit. The respondents preferred informal to formal sources. The three most severe financial problems in the use of credit were, inadequacy of loan given, delay in loan disbursement and price fluctuations. The F-Test provides an overall test of significance of the regression equation. This test showed that F was statistically significant at 5%(0.05) level, thereby showing that the combined effect of the independent variables (family size, amount of loan for marketing purpose, cost of purchased items (food) and cost of handling goods before sales) were significant on the food crops' Marketers.
