Paper Title
The Effect of The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) on Farmers’ Incomes

Abstract
The objectives of the study were to examine the socio-economic characteristics, determine sources and quantum of incomes as well as level of income inequality among of participants of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). In the process, 230 farmers were randomly selected from whom socioeconomic information was retrieved using structured questionnaires. The data collected were analysed using frequency distribution and ginni coefficient model. The study revealed that among the respondents, 87.39 per cent were males and in their middle ages of below 45 years. The farmers were also found to have attained some sort of advanced level education and having relatively large household sizes of over 6 members. Farm sizes among majority of the farmers were found to be small, below 5 hectares. Incomes stood at a gross total of N217,700,000.00 and an average income per farmer of N946,521.00. This less the average loan amount of N300,000.00 gave a net income of N646,521.00 per farmer. Furthermore, the results showed that farmers income increased by 215.38 per cent after joining the programme revealing that the ABP has impacted positively on their income level. Income inequality analysis showed that some degree of inequality exist in the distribution of total income among the participants as confirmed by a ginni coefficient of 0.43 however, majority of the farmers (63.05%) were situated in the middle income range earning between N201,000-N400,000 or 69.96% of total income. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that; a special quota should be instituted towards women under the ABP, adding a training module under ABP on how to make investment decisions when farmers earn incomes as well as the need for a follow-up mechanism to track impact of incomes earned after participating under the ABP. Keywords - Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, Income