International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Ayodele John Olukayode and Akerele Ezekiel Olaoluwa

abstract
This study focused on Bank of Agriculture (BOA) perspectives on financing Agricultural Cooperatives in Ogun State. The three zones of the bank operation were sampled using multistage sampling techniques. Primary and secondary data were utilized for the study and obtained with the use of a well structured questionnaire from 120 respondents only out of which One hundred and nine (109) were returned, and acceptable for data analysis. The results obtained on the socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiaries revealed that majority of them were male (58.7%), aged less than 50 years (75.2) with an average age of 42.51 years per beneficiary, married (75.2%), had moderate household size of 5 (mean) per household, literate with vast majority (98.2%) possessing one form of formal education or the other, (71.6%), engaged in farming as main occupation had an average of 5 years of farming experience and (64.2%) practiced Christianity as religion. An evaluation of the factors determining the amount of loan obtained revealed that age, education, farm size, amount repaid, past record and annual net income are the important factors determining the loan amount obtained from the Bank. The age of the respondents, negatively influenced the amount obtained while farm size and amount repaid positively influenced the loan amount obtained. Household size, education and loan size were found to have significant relationship with loan repayment rate. While household size had negative relationship with loan repayment, education and loan size have positive relationship with it. In terms of constraints to the BOA loan acquisition. High interest rate, bureaucracy and inability to provide a guarantor were adjudged as the major constraints to loan acquisition in the Bank of Agriculture in Ogun State.