Insufficient institutional credit is a major contributor to the persistent poor performance of the Nigerian agricultural sector. To encourage financial institutions to increase lending to the sector, a partial credit guarantee scheme was instituted. The scheme commenced operations in 1978 with an authorized capital of N100.00 million, subscribed to 60% and 40% by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Nigeria, respectively. This paper presents an appraisal of the scheme. The results revealed that there has been continuous growth in paid-up share capital, total fund resources, maximum amount of loan obtainable by farmers, number and value of loans guaranteed, volume and value of loans fully repaid and volume and value of default claims settled. There was a long-run convergence between the number and volume of guaranteed loans and the agricultural GDP. This finding indic...

Insufficient institutional credit is a major contributor to the persistent poor performance of the Nigerian agricultural sector. To encourage financial institutions to increase lending to the sector, a partial credit guarantee scheme was instituted. The scheme commenced operations in 1978 with an authorized capital of N 100.00 million, subscribed to 60% and 40% by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Nigeria, respectively. This paper presents an appraisal of the scheme. The results revealed that there has been continuous growth in paid-up share capital, total fund resources, maximum amount of loan obtainable by farmers, number and value of loans guaranteed, volume and value of loans fully repaid and volume and value of default claims settled. There was a long-run convergence between the number and volume of guaranteed loans and the agricultural GDP. This finding indi...

Fish is the cheapest animal protein source in Nigeria, and dry fish in particular has the potential to solve the pervasive protein shortage problem owing to its relative affordability compared with fresh fish. Boosting dry fish consumption will entail retail price reduction which is achievable only if the market for dry fish operates efficiently. This study, after testing and correcting price series for non-stationarity, modelled marketing efficiency in 66 pairs of spatially separated markets. The unit root test was used to reveal the order of econometric integration of the price series. All price series showed non-stationarity at their levels (P<0.05), but on first-differencing, they all rejected the null hypothesis of non-stationarity. This confirmed that they were generated by the same stochastic processes and, thus, capable of exhibiting long-run spatial equilibrium. The vector auto-...

Fish is the cheapest animal protein source in Nigeria, and dry fish in particular has the potential to solve the pervasive protein shortage problem owing to its relative affordability compared with fresh fish. Boosting dry fish consumption will entail retail price reduction which is achievable only if the market for dry fish operates efficiently. This study, after testing and correcting price series for non-stationarity, modelled marketing efficiency in 66 pairs of spatially separated markets. The unit root test was used to reveal the order of econometric integration of the price series. All price series showed non-stationarity at their levels (P<0.05), but on first-differencing, they all rejected the null hypothesis of non-stationarity. This confirmed that they were generated by the same stochastic processes and, thus, capable of exhibiting long-run spatial equilibrium. The vector au...