AGRICULTURAL FINANCIAL INITIATIVES AND AGRICULTURAL SECTOR PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the impact of agricultural financial reforms on agricultural output proxied by the ratio of real agriculture output to real gross domestic product in Nigeria. Using the Auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL), the study found that only commercial banks loan to agriculture significantly determines agricultural output (AO) in Nigeria in the long and short run. About 92.6% of variations in AO are jointly explained by commercial banks loan to agriculture (CLA), agricultural credit schemes (ACS), interest rate (INT), credit to private sector (CPS), and inflation rate (INF) in Nigeria. In the both the short and long run periods, ACS, INT, CPS, and INF are the significant determinants of AO in Nigeria. It concludes that ACS is not sufficient to effect positive changes in AO in both the short and long run. Given the objectives of the agriculture funding initiatives, the Nigerian government should explore or research into measures that can help ensure that these funds positively impacts agricultural output in Nigeria