Credit access, demand, and repayment among smallholder farmers in Nigeria: A follow-up analysis

Ambler, Kate; Balana, Bedru; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Maruyama, Eduardo; and Olanrewaju, Opeyemi. 2025. Credit access, demand, and repayment among smallholder farmers in Nigeria: A follow-up analysis. IFPRI Project Note July 2025. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175654

Access to credit can be important for improving the performance of smallholders, as it enables farmers to purchase inputs while sustaining their livelihoods. In rural Nigeria, however, access to credit—particularly from formal financial institutions—is limited. As a result, farmers often have little to no choice but to depend on alternative credit sources, including informal lending. Small holder agricultural households often turn to friends and family, or local money lenders and other informal and semi-formal sources to meet their credit needs (EFInA, 2020).