Maize Productivity and Household Welfare Impacts of Mobile Money Usage in Tanzania

Happiness Kilombele (), Shiferaw Feleke, Tahirou Abdoulaye, Steven Cole, Haruna Sekabira and Victor Manyong
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Happiness Kilombele: Social Science and Agribusiness, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dar es Salaam 34441, Tanzania
Shiferaw Feleke: Social Science and Agribusiness, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dar es Salaam 34441, Tanzania
Tahirou Abdoulaye: Social Science and Agribusiness, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Bamako 320, Mali
Steven Cole: Social Science and Agribusiness, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dar es Salaam 34441, Tanzania
Haruna Sekabira: Social Science and Agribusiness, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Kigali 1269, Rwanda
Victor Manyong: Social Science and Agribusiness, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dar es Salaam 34441, Tanzania

IJFS, 2023, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: This study examined the determinants and impacts of mobile money (MM) usage on maize productivity and poverty likelihood (i.e., the probability of a household falling below the international poverty line at USD 1.9 per capita per day) in the Mbeya Region, Tanzania. The analysis was conducted using the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model on data from a random sample of 1310 households selected from seven districts in the region. Results of the ESR estimation show that MM usage is strongly and positively associated with the education level of the household head, asset ownership, credit access, input access, and social networks. MM usage is also significantly associated with increased maize productivity and a reduced poverty likelihood. Farmers who chose to use MM services increased their maize productivity by about 124 kg/acre and reduced their poverty likelihood by nearly 25 percentage points, as measured by the progress out of poverty index. These findings call for a targeted approach to reaching and supporting MM usage among households with constrained access to formal financial services to increase maize productivity and reduce poverty likelihood.

Keywords: mobile money; maize productivity; poverty likelihood; Tanzania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F2 F3 F41 F42 G1 G2 G3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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