1 © 2019 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. ANALYSIS OF CREDIT ACCESS AMONG CASSAVA VALUE CHAIN ACTORS IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA Ogbanje, Elaigwu Christopher 1+ Odah, O. Mary 2 Yahaya, A. Mohammed 3 1,2 Department of Agribusiness, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria 3 Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 2 January 2019 Revised: 5 February 2019 Accepted: 7 March 2019 Published: 29 March 2019 Keywords Cassava, Value chain Agricultural credit Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA Benue State. The study examined credit access among cassava value chain actors in Benue State, Nigeria. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 230 respondents, comprising 138 producers, 40 processors and 52 marketers. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires. While frequency distribution, mean standard deviation and coefficient of variation were used to realise the objectives, Kruskal-Wallis (H) and one-way analysis of variance were used to test hypotheses one and two, respectively, for the study. The result showed that processors had more access to credit (75.00 %), while marketers obtained more average credit amount (N69,519.00) than the other actors. Findings further showed that the Chi-square statistic (25.56) of Kruskal- Wallis (H) was statistically significant (p < 0.05), indicating that there was statiscally significant difference in access to credit among cassava value chain actors in the study area. The difference was favour of the processors. In addition, the F-statistic (8.06) of one-way analysis of variance was statistically significant (p < 0.05), indicating that there was statistically significant difference in the amount of credit obtained among actors in the value chain. The difference was in favour of the marketers. It was recommended that actors in cassava value chain should have the same level of access and amount of credit. Contribution/ Originality: This study is one of the very few studies which have investigated the difference in agricultural credit among cassava value chain actors in Benue State. The aspects of credit considered were access and amount. The purpose was to lend empirical evidence to presumed credit discrimination among actors in cassava industry. 1. INTRODUCTION Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a woody shrub native to South America. It is of the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in the tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, serving as a major source of carbohydrates [1, 2]. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava, while Thailand is the largest exporter of dried cassava [1]. In 2016, global production of cassava root was 277 mt, with Nigeria as the world's largest producer, having 21% (about 58.17 mt) of the world total [1]. The major producing States in Nigeria include Anambra, Delta, Edo, Benue, Cross-River, Imo, Oyo and Rivers [1]. Journal of Asian Scientific Research ISSN(e): 2223-1331 ISSN(p): 2226-5724 DOI: 10.18488/journal.2.2019.91.1.9 Vol. 9, No. 1, 1-9 © 2019 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. URL: www.aessweb.com