Factors Influencing Financial Inclusion Status of Agricultural Households in Nigeria

Financial inclusion - a situation where individuals and firms have equal access to and usage ofaffordable financial services and products, is widely acknowledged as having the potential inassisting the attainment of equitable economic growth. Specifically, this study identified therange of financial services available to agricultural households in Nigeria, determined thefinancial inclusion status, and examined the factors that influence financial inclusion ofagricultural households in Nigeria. Data for the study were drawn from the fourth wave of theLiving Standard Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture 2018/19. Descriptivestatistics, Probit Regression model (PRM), and Alkire and Foster Method (AFM) were used toanalyse the data. Results show that 76.8% of household heads were male, 72.2% were married,and 77.1% had primary school education with mean age and household size of 49.2 years and6 persons respectively. Specifically, 41.5% of the respondents had bank accounts while 84.9%and 96.2% had no access to credit and insurance policies respectively. AFM revealed that58.2% of the households were financially included. PRM reveals that there was a significantpositive association between households’ financial inclusion and household size (γ = 0.010,p<0.05). Other influencing factors of financial inclusion include; age of household head (γ=0.011, p<0.01); household income (γ = 0.018, p<0.05); possession of phone (γ = 0.168,p<0.05); access to internet (γ = 0.170, p<0.05); being a resident of Southeast (γ = 0.041, p<0.10)and Southwest (γ = - 0.043, p<0.05). As financial inclusion can contribute to poverty alleviationand boost economic growth, improved internet facilities, women- targeted, income, andlocation-specific intervention should be provided for agricultural households in Nigeria so asto enhance their financial inclusion status.