Does digital finance improve welfare effects of maize farmers’ productivity gains?

Purpose In Burkina Faso, maize is a key component in farm households’ food security and welfare. However, maize productivity in the country is low and productivity improvements do not necessarily result in better living conditions. This paper aims to establish linkages between maize productivity and welfare by considering the context of digital finance adoption for farmers in Burkina Faso. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, we use an endogenous switching regression approach on the Burkina Faso’s Living Standard Measurement Survey of 2018. Findings Our estimates show that digital finance adoption enhances the transmission of productivity gains to farm households’ welfare, with the welfare elasticity of maize productivity almost twice higher for digital finance adopters. Social implications Our findings highlight the importance of increasing the access to digital finance to improve farm household welfare. Originality/value This manuscript makes the valuable contribution of analysing the heterogeneity of the transmission of agricultural productivity to welfare, with a focus on the identification of the role of digital finance. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2024-0077