Okoro FN and Nwali NI*
The study examined agricultural funding and challenges of money deposit banks in Nigeria using secondary data collected from Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of Statistics reports. Data were analyzed using line graphs. Results showed that money deposit banks funding of agricultural sector was the least compared to other sectors of the economy from 1984 to 2009. The banks being profit oriented do not have the capacity to fund agriculture in Nigeria due to the concessionary interest rates of the Central Bank of Nigeria. More so, portfolio prescription policy of CBN constrained the ability of money deposit banks to maximize returns on their investment in agriculture. Similarly, money deposit banks were faced by so many challenges in their course of funding agriculture. Such challenges include: financial resources, economic, human resources, environmental, and political challenges, all these act and react with one another to incapacitate money deposit banks from funding agriculture more than other sectors of the economy. Recommendations include a regulatory and legal policy reforms to empower corporate investors and other institutional investors to provide sustainable sources of long-term fund for the agriculture sector. The CBN should consider an intensive performance rating for all money deposit banks to determine their effectiveness in agricultural funding and also relevant agencies that are charged with protecting the environment from soil degradation and pollutions of varied kinds to take more proactive measures in sustaining the environment to encourage agricultural funding and food security in Nigeria.
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