The study investigated agricultural credit utilization among small-scale women
farmers in selected wards of Bida Local Government Area of Niger State. The
specific objectives were to: identify the major sources of credit to small-scale
farmers ; and determine the benefit (if any) which small-scale women farmers
had derived after acquiring credit for their farm operations. Data were collected
from one hundred respondents randomly selected from five wards with the aid of
structured interview schedule. Statistical tools used for data analysis were
frequency distribution, percentage and student t-test. Up to fifty-six percent of the
respondents claimed that they obtained their credit from various sources for their
farm operations. The results showed that t-calculated (17.581) was greater than
t-critical (1.9842) at 1% level of significance. Similarly, a total of 47.0 % of the
respondents opined that their farm produce increased their income which ranged
between N31,000 - N40,000 after acquiring credit from the Cooperative Bank. It
was concluded that small-scale women farmers’ income increased when they
had access to credit facilities from banks. Therefore, it was recommended that
the regulatory body responsible to oversee the activities of (NACRDB) monitor
regularly the disbursement of agricultural loan to women farmers at the
appropriate planning season with reasonable interest charge and that extension
agents should ensure that the loan is utilized for only agricultural purposes.