Effects of Poor Banking Support for Agriculture in Northern Nigeria: the Problems and Remedies

Lack of finance has created a weak agricultural system in Northern Nigeria and thus the need to establish the facts about the effects of poor banking support for agriculture in Northern Nigeria. Banks being the institutions of financial inter-mediation are expected to assist agriculture by providing finance to improve its output. A hypothesis; there is poor banking support for agriculture in northern Nigeria, was formulated and tested. This work is a descriptive research and uses primary and secondary data gathered from banks and farmers around Zaria to establish the reasons banking support for agriculture has been poor to include; perception of risk and natural disasters. It recommends that; regulatory authorities should continuously improve policies on banking support for agriculture and banks in turn should establish agriculture desks/units equipped with skilled man power capable of working with the farmers to achieve desired agricultural outputs. This work should be useful to banks, farmers, regulatory authorities, governments, students and academic researchers or anyone else seeking an insight into the effects of poor banking support for agriculture in Northern Nigeria.