Abstract
Investigations into the sources and uses of loans in Nigerian agricultural production by small farmers were made in a survey carried out between June 1981 and February 1982 in six selected villages of Oyo State, Nigeria. A two-stage stratified sampling procedure was used to select the villages and interview 420 farmers. The principal findings were: (1) agricultural food production in the area is basically for subsistence and i.s carried out by traditional farming methods; (2) contrary to some findings in the literature, money lenders do not provide the bulk of the loans available to the farmers; (3) friends, relatives and co-operatives provide most of the loans; and (4) the existence of agricultural loan agencies is unknown to the farmers, neither do they obtain loans from the commercial banks.
