Financial inclusion, non-agricultural enterprises’ participation and poverty among rural farming households in southern Nigeria: A gender perspective

This study examined the effect of financial inclusion, non-agricultural enterprises on poverty status of rural farming households in  Southern, Nigeria. The data were obtained from Nigerian Living Standards Survey (NLSS) fielded by the National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank in 2018/2019 (the latest available). Only 6,019 rural households in southern region were used for the  analyses using descriptive and FosterGreer- Thorbecke poverty measures (FGT). The result revealed that households engaging in non- agricultural enterprises were more financially included (28.89%) than non-participating households (21.09%). Female headed households  were more financially excluded among the participants and non-participants with many of them being non-participants. South West has the highest percentage of financially included households among both participants (32.14%) and non-participants (22.94%). South South  zone has the highest percentage of the financially excluded households among both participants (75.56%) and non-participants (80.87%)  in the region. Poverty incidence of participants (43.94%) and non-participants (47.05%) who were financially included were less than that  of their counterparts who were financially excluded. The result also reveals that females were poorer compared to their male  counterparts but poverty was more prevalent among non-participating female headed households and those who were financially  excluded. The study concludes that involvement in non-agricultural enterprises engendered financial inclusion of rural households which  invariably enhanced income and reduced poverty. The study therefore, recommends that non-participating households should be  motivated by government to get engaged in non-agricultural enterprises since it engenders financial inclusion, enhance standard of  living and reduce poverty.