Women in Agriculture Using Digital Financial Services : Lessons Learned from Technical Assistance Support to DigiFarm, Fenix, and myAgro
Women in rural areas, and in particular female farmers, have significantly less access to financial services than their male counterparts. Such limited access is harmful to female farmers and their families and significantly impedes their ability t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/222361617683660582/Women-in-Agriculture-Using-Digital-Financial-Services-Lessons-Learned-from-Technical-Assistance-Support-to-DigiFarm-Fenix-and-myAgro http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35471 |
| Summary: | Women in rural areas, and in particular
female farmers, have significantly less access to financial
services than their male counterparts. Such limited access
is harmful to female farmers and their families and
significantly impedes their ability to grow and prosper.
Female farmers tend to have limited access to formal savings
and credit, which limits their ability to manage shocks and
invest in seasonal inputs or in durable goods and productive
assets. It is estimated that closing the gender gap in
access to productive assets could lead to a 20-30 percent
yield increase per household, which would benefit not only
female farmers, but also their families (FAO 2011). One of
the main issues that keeps financing out of the reach of
female farmers is that women tend to be time constrained,
which indicates the need for easy access to and convenience
of financial products. Suitability, ease of use, and
convenience are important determinants of access to
financial services for women in agriculture. Digital
financial services (DFS) have the potential to unlock
financial services for women in agriculture; however,
currently, significant gender gaps exist in DFS access and
usage. By allowing female farmers to make financial
transactions without the need to go to the branch of a
financial institution, DFS can offer them a safe, private,
and convenient way to save money, access loans, make and
receive payments, or access insurance. However, many DFS
providers see an imbalance in the uptake and usage of
financial services by gender. In 2018, the World Bank
provided technical assistance (TA) to three financial
service providers (FSPs) to help them deliver financial
services to female farmers using digital means. |
|---|