The Effect of Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) on Production Efficiency of Rural Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This research work examined the effect of ACGSF on income generation and poverty alleviation among rural farmers in Benue state. Results of the Stochastic frontier and the inefficiency model showed that the variance parameters for ∂2 and y were 0.2237 and 0.5209 which was significant at 1 percent level. The sigma squared indicated the goodness of fit and correctness of the distributional form assumed for the composite error term while the gamma Y indicates that the systematic influences that are unexplained by the Production Function and the dominant sources of random errors. This showed that the inefficiency effects makes significant contribution to the technical inefficiencies of ACGSF beneficiaries. The central recommendation made as a way of ensuring production efficiency and poverty alleviation was that farmers should form cooperative societies so that they easily obtain inputs at a lower cost and without conditions, also getting information on production practices.