FACTORS INFLUENCING SAVINGS AND INVESTMENT AMONG SMALLSCALE FARMERS IN BAUCHI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the factors influencing savings and investments among small scale farmers in Bauchi State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting 320 respondents. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that 38.13% of the respondents were within the age bracket of 28-37 with mean age of 35 years. Majority (53.8%) of the respondents were male. The result also revealed that majority (69.7%) and (55.9%) of the respondents were married having secondary education respectively. The major occupation of the respondents was farming (61.6%). The result also revealed that majority (65.0%) of the respondents’ sourced capital from their personal savings. The result further depicts that half (50.0%) of the respondents had household size of 1-6 with mean household size of 7 persons. Most (94.38%) of the respondents had farm size between 1-2 hectares with mean farm size of 2.5 hectares. Most (94.06%) of the respondents had been in farming for about 1-10 years with a mean year of experience of 4 years. Majority (70.3%) of the respondents were members of one cooperative or the other. The result of factors influencing savings of the respondents revealed that, the coefficients of income from off-farm, farm size and farming experience were positive and statistically significant (P≤ 0.001). On the other hand, the result of factors influencing investment of the respondents revealed that, age and off-farm income were the factors that are statistically significant (P≤ 0.001) and (P≤ 0.05) respectively influencing investments of the respondents in the study area. The major constraints to savings and investments in the study area were lack of sufficient returns (40.0%), risk of capital loss (35.0%) and seasonality of agricultural operations. The study concluded that income from off-farm, farm size, and farming experience, age and off-farm income were the factors influencing savings and investments at 1% and 5% level of significance. The study recommended that, incentives such as improved technology, appropriate farm support services and medium and long-term loans should be provided to farmers to boost their income level.