Previous studies have shown a significant and positive relationship between agricultural output and long run economic development. Nigeria, with current extreme poverty rate of 48% is also characterized with high level of food insecurity. The country however, has about 99 million ha of arable land which supports numerous farming activities. Therefore, there exist an opportunity to increase agricultural output and achieve economic development. Further studies also showed that the percentage of agricultural loans to total loans in Nigeria have been declining over the last 15 years which suggests some form of neglect of the sector. This paper therefore examined the impact of agricultural loans and other relevant variables on agricultural GDP in Nigeria with a view to estimate a regression model that can explain variability in agricultural GDP. All the data used were secondary data collected from the annual statistical bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria (2018) and USDA, Economic Research Service (Nov. 2019). Ordinary Least Square regression model was used to estimate regression parameters and to show relationship between the variables. Analyzed results showed that agricultural GDP in Nigeria is statistically dependent on agricultural loan, government expenditure and available farm land. The result was statistically tested to be significant at >=95% level of confidence. Further results also showed that agricultural loan in Nigeria is statistically dependent on agricultural credit guarantee and Non-performing loan ratio. This was also tested to be significant at >=95% level of confidence.The study recommended that the results calls for more allocation of credit for agricultural purposes, more government spending to agriculture and more funding of the agricultural credit guarantee program by the government.

Limited access to financial services is known as a major constraint to agricultural development (FAO, 2002). Farmers need liquidity to face agricultural expenses throughout the production cycle but mainly at the beginning. Mainstream financial institutions are reluctant to serve the agricultural sector for several reasons. First, they consider the sector to be highly risky with low performance. Also, agricultural activities depend on the weather, they take place in remote rural areas, and commodities prices are volatile. All these aspects make it hard for standard banks to reach their profit goals when lending to farmers. Since microfinance was conceived, it has generated a lot of hope for alleviating poverty in low-income countries. Microfinance provides the poor with access to affordable capital by granting low-income individuals with loans they would not otherwise have access to, because of economic and geographic constraints. The goal of the dissertation is to examine the role and the importance of microfinance in the agricultural sector of developing countries. A survey took place in October 2017, in both rural and urban areas of Benin and involved 750 agricultural households. Three different agricultural zones were selected: the North-East (cotton zone); the Center (tubers and cashew nut zone) and the South (a region with special crops such as vegetables, pineapple, palm tree, exotic plants). The study focuses on agricultural loans. It includes clients of the major microfinance institution in Benin: FECECAM - Faîtière des Caisses d’Epargne et de Crédit Agricole Mutuel. This research contributes to the literature in several ways. The study allows shedding light on the effects of agricultural loans, specifically, on households’ efficiency and labor employment, which are mostly overlooked in the microfinance literature. To overcome selection bias in microcredit evaluation, the research employs a pipeline design. Control and treatment groups consist of individuals who have chosen to participate in the microfinance program. The loan treatment considered is the experience with loans which includes program entry timing, loan take-up frequency, and the average amount of loan obtained over the 2012-2017 period. The study employs a cluster analysis technique to create reliable comparable groups. Multiple variables and indicators are analyzed. A descriptive analysis of loan impact on farmers’ labor input choices shows that past loans have residual effects on both hired and family labor use. Farm loans, especially those obtained for farm machinery significantly reduce expenditure on hired labor but more family labor is employed using machine loans while other loan categories reduced the use of family labor. The evaluation of the whole-farm efficiency of borrowers in the presence of agricultural loans reveals significant technical and allocative errors leading to profit loss in all studied regions. However, experience with loans significantly increases farmers’ whole-farm efficiency, particularly in the North. Finally, the assessment of well-being indicators suggests that those farm loans have a significant positive impact on sampled recipients’ net farm income, food security and food quality statuses. Agricultural loans also have a positive impact on women’s empowerment. The monitoring and implementation mechanism of FECECAM played a crucial role in the success of its loan programs.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Agricultural financing has a wide and deep history in Nigeria, owing to the fact that the Nigerian economy has huge potentials for growth especially from its agriculture sector which is the second largest contributor to GDP. Since the establishment of the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme over 30 years ago, the total sum of 647,351 loans amounting to over N34 billion have been disbursed to farmers as at 2009. The result from this study shows that the guarantee scheme has been effective in providing agricultural financing as well as stimulating agricultural production in Nigeria. More specifically, the study found that, out of the five variables used in the models to determine agricultural performance, the credit finance provided under the ACGS and foreign exchange rates was found to be statistically significant to agricultural output. The credit provided under the ACGS has a significant effect on aggregate output; it was also found that the crop and the fishery subsectors are significantly affected by the credit finance provided under the ACGS, due to their short gestation period. However, the livestock and forestry subsectors do not have an immediate significant relationship with the credit finance due to their long gestation period; rather, they have a significant relationship with the depreciation of foreign exchange rates. A major policy implication from the study is that the government should continue to promote and support the operations of the ACGS to encourage farmers to invest their best efforts in agricultural production in Nigeria for food production and for enhanced agricultural export.

當前我國農業金融施政目標將配合農業加值政策，多元化推動政策性專案農貸，農貸對象將由個別農漁民推廣至農企業，是以，資金用途亦將由農業生產擴及農漁業運銷、加工與技術研發；穩健持續的發展農業將需要充分的資金，如何為農業發展自金融市場引入資金，融資是我國金融施政的當務之急。 　　我國農漁會組織結構脆弱，規模小且欠缺增資機制，本論文鑑於美國資產證券化發展至今已半個世紀，其對直接融資環境的建樹及國家經濟的繁榮功不可沒；直接融資的優點有三：降低借款者的融資成本、提高貸款者的營運效率、增加投資者的投資標的，本論文冀望借鏡美國資產證券化發展經驗及運作模式，創新我國融資思維，以「農業貸款證券化」的方式自金融市場直接取得資金，消弭農業金融當前的瓶頸，為農業發展提供有效的融資，全力發展農業貸款證券化尚能促進國內證券化及信託業務的健康發展。 　　本論文參考美國資產支持證券與小型企業署證券化的運作模式，規劃我國農業貸款支持證券的發行程序，包括創始資產、資產群組化、現金流結構、信用增強機制、發行架構、風險分析、信用評等及訂價策略八個構面，並探討發行之可行性，獲得適法性無疑、市場供給面與需求面具有發行正當性之結論。 　　在促進次級市場流動性議題上，本論文建議以「指定集合管理運用金錢信託」平台，透過投資人的多元性參與以及投資商品的多樣性選擇，在金錢信託架構下促進交易市場的活絡，進而帶動流動性的增強；最後，本論文建議信託業運用信託機制發揮投資銀行之功能，於兼顧企業融資與客戶投資之同時，實踐扶持中小企業、促進地方經濟繁榮的責任與願景。 　　國內如能順利推動農業貸款證券化業務，對市場各個參與者之利基臚列於下，此亦為本論文衷心冀盼的： 一、對政府、農委會等中央主管機關而言： 　　（一）得以建立我國農業資本市場、擴大我國債券之發行。 　　（二）得以解決農地閒置休耕問題、增進農企業規模發展。 　　（三）得以樽節政府農業發展支出、普及全民投資農漁業。 二、對全國農業金庫而言： 　　（一）得以差異化的營運方式有別於農漁會之經營。 　　（二）得以超然的立場貫徹執行金融監督管理之責。 三、對農漁會而言： 　　（一）得以縮減資本計提的需求、提升ROA與ROE。 　　（二）得以提升金融資產流動性、增進資金使用效率。 　　（三）得以提高自有資本的比率、改善經營的績效。 　　（四）得以開創資金調度的渠道、降低資金取得成本。 　　（五）得以分散金融資產的區域性風險與集中性風險。 四、對農、林、漁、牧業者而言： 　　（一）得以取得貸款資金。 　　（二）得以降低融資成本。 五、對投資人而言： 　　（一）得以直接參與本土農業投資。 　　（二）得以享有多樣化的投資選擇。 / The current Agriculture-Finance policy of R.O.C. is to cope with Agriculture Value-up policy, so as to promote diversified project loans from individuals to corporates. Consequently, the purpose of finance will be extended to agricultural and fishing logistics, process and technic inventions. Constant and stable development of agriculture needs sufficient capital; however, the main and urgent issue of agricultural development is to direct financing from capital market. The construction of farmers’ and fishermen’s association of R.O.C. is relevantly fragile, in miniature and in lack of the mechanism of capital injection. The securitization of the U.S.A. has been developed through half century, which flourishes economy and direct finance. There are three advantages of direct finance; the first is to lower the cost of borrowers, the second is to level-up the business efficiency of debtors, and the third is to increase the objects of investors. The essay is about to refer to the experiences of US securitization and its models, so as to innovate our financing thinking with direct financing from Agriculture-Loan-Securitization; where the bottleneck of agriculture financing can be breached and provide more sufficient and efficient capital to boost Agriculture-Loan-Securitization with advantageous growth of domestic business of securitization and trust. This essay consults the methods of US ABS and SME construction to plan the issuance of Agriculture-Loan-Securitization, including aspects of original assets, assets sectors, financing construction, credit enhancing mechanism, issuance construction, risk analysis, credit rating and pricing; that leads to the justification of feasibility, legality, supply and demand of issuance. As to the issue of increase liquidity of secondary market, this essay suggests that the building of Semi-discretionary collectively managed money trust platform can provide a varieties of diversified participation and investing products to investors under the construction of money trust to activate vivid market transaction and empower liquidity. This essay also suggests that the business of trust shall use the function of investment banking, with the balance between corporate financing and client investment, to support SME and improve local economy as a liability and vision. In the event of the succession of domestic Agriculture-Loan-Securitization, the niches of each participant are suggested as followed with sincerely: 1. To Council of Agriculture and government at large, (1) Building up agriculture financing market, expanding the issuance of bonds. (2) Sorting out farmland fallow, increasing the scale of agriculture business. (3) Saving the cost of governmental agriculture cost, promoting the investment to agriculture and fishing. 2. To Agricultural Bank of Taiwan, (1) Setting up the differentiation of management from farmers’ and fishermen’s association. (2) Supervising independently. 3. To farmers’ and fishermen’s association, (1) Minimizing the demand of capital adequacy, increasing ROA and ROE. (2) Increasing capital liquidity and efficiency. (3) Level up tier 1 capital, improve return. (4) Developing new capital channel, lowering the risk of financing. (5) Spreading finance area risk and concentric risk. 4. To agriculture, forestry, fishing and animal husbandry business, (1) Acquiring finance (2) Lower the cost of financing 5. To investors, (1) Participating local agriculture investments directly. (2) Have diversified options of investment.