@article{Kirui:125738,
      recid = {125738},
      author = {Kirui, Oliver K. and Okello, Julius Juma and Nyikal, Rose  Adhiambo},
      title = {Impact of Mobile Phone-based Money Transfer Services in  Agriculture: Evidence from Kenya},
      address = {2012},
      number = {1007-2016-79444},
      pages = {22},
      year = {2012},
      note = {Information Communication Technology (ICT)},
      abstract = {The recent introduction of mobile phone-based money  transfer (MMT) services in developing countries has  generated a lot of interest among development partners. It  facilitates transfer of money in a quick and cost effective  way. It also offers an easy and secure platform for small  savings to majority of rural populations with no access to  formal financial services. However, the impact of MMT  services on smallholder agriculture has not been  documented. This study therefore contributes to pioneering  literature on the impact of MMT, especially in agriculture.  It provides information regarding financial intermediation  to the excluded through the use of new generation  Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools especially  the mobile phone. The study employs propensity score  matching technique to examine the impact of MMT services on  household agricultural input use, agricultural  commercialization and farm incomes among farm households in  Kenya. It uses cross-sectional data collected from 379  multi-stage randomly selected households in Central,  Western and Nyanza provinces of Kenya. The study found that  use of MMT services significantly increased level of annual  household input use by $42, household agricultural  commercialization by 37% and household annual income by  $224. We conclude that MMT services in rural areas help to  resolve an idiosyncratic market failure that farmers face;  access to financial services. We therefore recommend that  other developing countries should follow the Kenyan model  and provide an enabling environment that would facilitate  entry and survival of MMT initiatives.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/125738},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.125738},
}