Analysis of Financial Inclusion among Bee Farmers in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed financial inclusion among bee farmers in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study assessed the levels of access, use and quality of financial inclusion, evaluated the implications of financial inclusion on honey production, analyzed the drivers of financial inclusion and evaluated the major constraints affecting financial inclusion among bee farmers in the study area. The study used multistage sampling technique to select 156 bee farmers for the study. Primary data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, probit regression analysis and principal components analysis. Results showed that majority of the respondents were males (90.4 %) and within the age brackets of 31-40 years. A greater number were also married (85.9%) and had attained secondary school education (55.8%), with a mean household size of 7 persons and an average farming experience of 10 years. The average farm size was 14 hives. Only 47.4% of the respondents belonged to farmers’ association. The findings equally revealed that, 54.5% of the farmers had accounts with a bank and 33.3% of the farmers had accounts with informal financial institutions for the access dimension of financial inclusion. In the usage dimension of financial inclusion, 48.7% of the farmers had borrowed, and 58.3% of them saved. The quality dimension of financial inclusion showed that 40.4% made electronic payments for agricultural supplies for bee farming while 39.7% received electronic payment for sales of honey. On the implications of financial inclusion on honey production, the findings revealed that the output of bee farmers was positively influenced by account ownership (p<0.01), education (p<0.01), primary occupation (p<0.05), number of hives (p<0.01) and labour (p<0.01), and negatively influenced by household size (p<0.01) and age (p<0.05). The key drivers of inclusivity were income (p<0.01), financial literacy (p<0.01), education (p<0.01) and number of bee hives (p<0.01) across the three dimensions. The major constraints affecting financial inclusion in the study area were lack of trust, gender, financial illiteracy and belief system. The study, therefore, recommends that, government and non-governmental bodies can organize financial literacy training programmes that will educate farmers on the need for participation in financial services, consequently their increased participation would in turn improve their income and savings which could in turn boost farmers’ production. Key words: Drivers, production, probit, multiple regression socioeconomics, Constraints implications quality, access