ABSTRACT
The focus of this study is impact analysis of savings and credit cooperative societies in combating poverty among crop farmers in three Local Government Areas of Niger State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from two categories of farmers; beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOS) lending activities through the use of structured questionnaires. Combinations of purposive and random sampling techniques were used in selecting respondents. Tools of analyses used were description statistics such as frequencies, percentages, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke indices, double difference estimators, paired t-test and multiple regressions. Results of data analysis reveal that the mean ages of the farmer beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were 41 and 38 years respectively. The results of poverty severity index revealed that about 2% of the beneficiaries constitutes the poorest among the respondents while, about 4% of the non-beneficiaries constitutes the poorest among the respondents after obtaining credit. The results from double difference estimator revealed that SACCOS Credit impacted positively on the beneficiaries‟ crop output and per capita annual farm income with a positive mean value of 290.03kg and ₦2054.77, respectively. The results from multiple regression analysis revealed that household size, farm income, non-farm income, educational level and interest rate charged on credit were the significant factors that influence the level of participation in SACCOS at 1% and 10% levels of significance respectively. Many about (39%) of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries ranked high cost of farm inputs such as fertilizer and agrochemical as the foremost constraints. It was therefore recommended that the Savings and credit cooperative societies could link -up the farmers with sources of quality input for bulk purchase. This will enable the groups to buy inputs at factory cost thereby helping to reduce cost of production.
