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Failure of investment, failure of farmers to use borrowed funds for production and the refusal to return borrowed funds are some of the causes for low repayment performance: hence the need for credit rationing. The study was therefore aimed at determining factors affecting credit rationing among groups in Farmers Development Union (FADU) of Ekiti State. The study was carried out in four local government areas (Ikere, Ado- Ekiti, Ayedun and Ijan Ekiti) in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A total sample size of 33 farmer groups within the union comprising of 10 members each were selected via sampling proportionate to size. Secondary data obtained from records of the groups spanning a single year period was used for the study in addition to interview schedule. Findings, however, revealed that loan beneficiaries of FADU must be registered members of the organization and must have at least 25% loan request as savings before loans could be granted to them. Also, 66.7% of the beneficiaries were in their active working age and 84.8% of the groups consisted mainly of women with trading as their major occupation. All the beneficiaries were married with 36.4% of the women having a mean household size of 6 people. The regression analysis showed that educational level and income were socio-economic characteristics that positively affect repayment performance. Also, the probit model revealed that income, outstanding debt and leverage of beneficiaries were significant determinants of loan rationing. However, to fully harness the benefits inherent in credit rationing by microcredit institutions; proper monitoring of borrowed funds was encouraged as repayment performance and credit rationing are interwoven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a widely accepted fact that persistent inequality between men and women constrains a society's productivity and ultimately slows its rate of economic growth. The economy pays for this inequality in reduced labour productivity today and diminished national output tomorrow. Motivated by this, the study aim is to assess the possibilities of enhancing productivity gains by improving the efficiency of small-scale agriculture through gender-responsive intra-household allocation of resources in south-western Nigeria. The study adopts a stochastic parametric decomposition method which yields efficiency measures that are not distorted by statistical noise to estimate the efficiency level of resource allocation by small-scale cassava producers. The results indicate that average overall productive efficiency in the sample was 75.78 per cent, implying that small-scale cassava farmers in the sample could reduce total variable cost by 24.22 per cent if they reduce labour, fertilizer, land and capital applications to levels observed in the changing input mix (technical efficiency) and then obtain optimal input mix for the given input prices and technology (allocative efficiency). The average technical efficiency and allocative efficiency indexes for the sample were 82.2 per cent and 92.2 per cent respectively. Also, evidence from empirical analysis of data from the male respondents showed that the average economic, technical and allocative efficiency indexes were 88.06 per cent, 89.34 per cent and 78.67 per cent respectively while the same computed for the female sample were 94.9 per cent, 74.85 per cent and 71.03 per cent respectively. Labour was the most limiting factor in cassava production suggesting that the technologies that enhance the productivity of labour are likely to achieve significant positive effects on cassava production. The paper shares the notion that producers' control over the means of production and impact of development are related and has influence on the economic efficiency and growth of society. Again, technical inefficiency constituted a more serious problem than allocative inefficiency, thus most cost savings will accrue to improvement in technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]