The determinants of participation in savings groups and the impact on input investment among smallholder farmers in Sironko district, Uganda
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Date
2022-12
Authors
Emmanuel, Bukuwa Nambale
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
To promote savings groups (SGs), which are important in promoting financial inclusion among
smallholders, it is imperative to understand the factors that affect participation in these SGs
and the associated impact in the context of Uganda. This study determined the factors
influencing participation in SGs. The study put particular emphasis on the use of SGs as a form
of fully-fledged financial services provision to access agro-inputs. The study, therefore,
additionally, determined the impact of these SGs on the expenditure on agro-inputs. The study
used data collected through a cross-sectional survey from 249 participants. These participants
were drawn from Sironko district, Uganda, East Africa. The study employed a Probit model to
investigate the determinants of participation and intensity of participation. To estimate the
impact of SGs on expenditure on agro-inputs, average treatment effects on the treated (ATT)
were calculated after discounting the selection bias between the SGs’ members and non members.
Averagely, SGs incurred 40% of all expenditure on Agro-inputs by SGs’ members. SGs’
members were significantly higher than non-members as regards total expenditure on agro inputs, per capita expenditure on agro-inputs, and proportion of income spent on agro-inputs.
ATT was insignificant and tends to be negative.
Description
Keywords
savings groups, determinants of participation, impact of savings groups, financial inclusion, community groups, smallholder farmers, Uganda