Mobile Money, Agricultural Intensification, and Household Welfare: Panel Evidence from Rural Uganda. (10th August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tabetando, Rayner; Matsumoto, Tomoya; Fani, Djomo Choumbou Raoul
• Is Part Of: Journal of agricultural and applied economics. Volume 54:Number 3(2022)
• Page Start: 515
• Page End: 530
• Publication Date: 2022-08-10
• Subjects: Mobile money -- farm income -- modern inputs -- remittances -- Uganda; D13 -- O13 -- O16 -- O33 -- Q12; Agriculture -- economics; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Southern States -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- United States -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Aspect économique -- Périodiques; Agriculture -- Aspect économique -- États-Unis -- Périodiques; Agrarökonomik; Agrarmarkt; USA; Welt; Agriculture -- Economic aspects; United States; Periodicals; 338.10975
• DOI: 10.1017/aae.2022.25
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1074-0708

Abstract

Abstract: We examine the impact of the rapidly expanding mobile banking service "mobile money" on rural households' decision to adopt modern agricultural inputs and its resultant effect on agricultural income using plot, household, and community-level panel data from rural Uganda. The main findings indicate that mobile money adoption increases per capita farm income by 13%. Pathway analyses show that mobile money adoption increases the likelihood of using chemical fertilizer on maize plots by 11 percentage points. Mobile money adoption increases the likelihood of high-yielding maize seeds adoption on maize plots by 8.2 percentage points. In the Ugandan context of rapid decline in soil fertility and very low adoption of fertilizer and modern seeds, mobile money provides an avenue to finance agricultural intensification.