Mobile money, smallholder farmers, and household welfare in Kenya.
Mobile money, smallholder farmers, and household welfare in Kenya.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0109804
复制
发表时间：
2014
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Qaim M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kikulwe EM;Fischer E;Qaim M
移动的电话的使用在许多发展中国家迅速增加，包括在农村地区。除了降低通信成本和改善获取信息的途径外，移动的电话还是其他创新的赋能技术。一个重要的例子是基于移动的电话的汇款，这对农村穷人非常重要，因为他们往往得不到正规银行系统的服务。我们分析了移动的货币技术对肯尼亚小农户福利的影响。使用面板调查数据和回归模型，我们表明，移动的钱的使用对家庭收入有积极的影响。一个重要途径是通过亲戚和朋友的汇款。这些汇款直接增加收入，但也有助于减少风险和流动性限制，从而促进农业商业化。移动的货币使用者使用更多的购买农业投入，销售其产出的更大比例，并且比非这种技术的使用者有更高的利润。这些结果表明，移动的资金有助于克服阻碍农村发展和减贫的一些重要的小农市场准入限制。
The use of mobile phones has increased rapidly in many developing countries, including in rural areas. Besides reducing the costs of communication and improving access to information, mobile phones are an enabling technology for other innovations. One important example are mobile phone based money transfers, which could be very relevant for the rural poor, who are often underserved by the formal banking system. We analyze impacts of mobile money technology on the welfare of smallholder farm households in Kenya. Using panel survey data and regression models we show that mobile money use has a positive impact on household income. One important pathway is through remittances received from relatives and friends. Such remittances contribute to income directly, but they also help to reduce risk and liquidity constraints, thus promoting agricultural commercialization. Mobile money users apply more purchased farm inputs, market a larger proportion of their output, and have higher profits than non-users of this technology. These results suggest that mobile money can help to overcome some of the important smallholder market access constraints that obstruct rural development and poverty reduction.