An Investigation into Credit Receipt and Enterprise Performance among Small Scale Agro Based Enterprises in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

The study was designed to analyze credit receipt and enterprise performance by small scale agro based enterprises in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was adopted in selecting 264 agro based enterprises and 96 agro based enterprises that accessed informal and formal credit respectively. The Heckman model was used to examine the factors affecting amount of informal and formal credit received by the enterprises. Financial ratios such as the current ratio and return on capital employed ratio were used in addition to the t-test to examine the performance of enterprises that borrowed from informal and formal credit markets in the area. Analyses of informal credit amount received reveal that gender, age and social capital are significant for the first hurdle, whereas gender, size, income, guarantor and social capital are significant for the second hurdle. Similarly, gender, education, age, size, and collateral are significant for the first hurdle for formal credit, while the second hurdle reported significant results with age, size, income, collateral and social capital. Formal credit was less accessible than informal credit but enhanced greater performance. Formal credit should be made to be easily accessible and efficiently utilized. This will go a long way in complementing the amnesty programme of the federal government of Nigeria in the region.