Does off-farm diversification enhance financial inclusion of agricultural households? Empirical evidence among peri-urban small-scale farmers in Nigeria

This study examined whether diversification into off-farm income generating activities has any significance in facilitating financial inclusion. Data were collected by a questionnaire through a household-level survey data from 130 peri-urban small-scale agricultural households in Kwara State, Nigeria. Data were subjected to descriptive, Binary and the Tobit regression analysis. Findings reveal that households who diversify their income sources away from agriculture are more likely to have received off-farm earnings through a bank account (p<0.01). Furthermore, households with off-farm monthly earnings of at least N18,000 (USD 111) are likely to own a bank account (p<0.01), are more diversified and received a greater amount of income from off-farm activities (p<0.01) and are not married (p<0.1).Findings open potential avenues for future research; specifically, the extent to which off-farm recipients actively make use of their accounts to obtain credit and advocates for policies that would lower the barrier cost to financial inclusion through enhanced proceeds from off-farm activities.