Financial Inclusion, Gender Gaps and Agricultural Productivity in Mali
Date
2022-10
Authors
Fowowe, Babajide
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
Sub-Saharan African countries have recorded slow rates of economic growth when
compared to other regions, and poverty has only reduced marginally. Amongst the
group of sub-Saharan African countries, fragile and post-conflict countries (FPCCs) have
performed particularly poorly in various indicators of development. Improvements
in agricultural productivity have been identified as important avenues for attaining
sustainable development in FPCCs. Financial inclusion and gender equality have the
potential to be critical drivers of such improvements in agricultural productivity. This
study conducted an empirical investigation of the effects of financial inclusion and
gender gaps on agricultural productivity in Mali. The study made use of data from the
Living Standards Measurement Study ‒ Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS‒ISA)
for the year 2017 in Mali. The empirical results showed that, financial inclusion has
had a positive and significant effect on agricultural productivity in Mali. In addition,
the results showed that gender gaps exist in agricultural productivity, and agricultural
productivity of women is lower than that of men. The study concludes by providing
some policy options for improving financial inclusion and reducing gender gaps, so
as to boost agricultural productivity.
Description
Keywords
Agriculture; Productivity; Financial inclusion; Gender; Mali