The role of financial inclusion on poverty reduction among rice farmers in Gihanga district of Burundi: does gender matter?
Loading...
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Financial inclusion and its role in poverty reduction have been less investigated in low-
and middle-income countries. Using cross-sectional data collected from 385 rice farmers
in the Gihanga District of Burundi, this study assessed the effect of financial inclusion on
poverty reduction. Descriptive analysis and econometric methods with probit and
propensity score matching were used to assess the determinants of financial inclusion and
its role on rice farmers’ household poverty reduction respectively. The role of gender
patterns of financial inclusion on poverty reduction was also explored. Results show that
65.7 % of the rice farmers were financially included against 34.3 % excluded, where
women account for 38.4 % of all financially included rice farmers. Sex and age were
negatively associated with financial inclusion status while the household size and
education level of both respondents and their partners are positively correlated with
financial inclusion status. The role of financial inclusion in poverty reduction seems to be
mixed. No significant difference was observed in terms of wealth assets between
financially included and excluded rice farmers while significant influence is observed on
their food consumption scores security. On the gender aspects, being a woman and
financially included leads to little but significant difference in terms of wealth index
while there is a significant difference skewed to men in terms of food consumption.
Comparison between financially included and excluded in both men and women
respectively shows only significant influence in food consumption scores. In sum,
financial inclusion impact differently poverty reduction and development. At the end, we
suggest that, any policymaking in the framework of financial inclusion should focus on
the reduction of the gender gap, development and integration of digital finance services in
the general transactions landscape in Burundi.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Financial inclusion, Poverty reduction, Rice farmers, Burundi, Gender matters, Gihanga district