Effects of Financial Inclusion on Arable Crop Productivity in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Farmers form the bulk of the group in Nigeria that is denied financial support, which highlights the lack of funding available for agriculture in the country. Access to farm financing could boost output and help lower poverty and malnutrition rates. Based on this, this research examined empirically the effects of financial inclusion on arable crop productivity in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The questionnaire was used to collect primary data from one hundred (100) arable crop farmers. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to draw samples for the study. The result of the descriptive statistics using standard deviation shows that all the variables clustered around the mean. Sources of credit for arable crop farmers show that about 36.7% accessed credit formally through a cooperative society, while 37.5% accessed credit through informal options such as personal savings. Instrumental variable estimation of effects of financial inclusion: ACCESS (1.06) and CREDIT (0.895) were positively statistically significant at the 0.01 level, while SAVE (0.46) is positively statistically significant at the 0.05 level, affecting arable crop productivity. In conclusion, financial inclusion, irrespective of how it is measured, has exerted positive and statistically significant effects on arable crop productivity in the study area. Hence, it is imperative for financial inclusion efforts to be strengthened and expanded so that more arable crop farmers can be captured in the financial system. Therefore, the study recommends the need for the formulation of proper policies aimed at enhancing financial inclusion services amongst arable crop farmers; policymakers should make agricultural borrowing schemes available land, accessible at lower interest rates for real farmers; and educated people should be encouraged to get involved in arable crop production, this will lead to food security.