…Universal access to identity requires an intentional focus on the most vulnerable Nigerians – likely to be poor female farmers in rural communities
Inclusion for All (I4ALL) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) are set to launch the “Inclusion for All Dialogues” through the formal presentation of the research report on ‘Access to Identity, Empowerment, Livelihood and Financial Inclusion of Female Agricultural Workers and Traders in Nigeria’.
Overview
Financial exclusion is a significant driver of inequality and poverty. According to the Access to Finance (A2F) survey conducted by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) in 2020, only 49.5% of Nigerian adults had access to formal bank accounts, representing 52.5 million people, while a total of 59 million Nigerians remained unbanked.
Of these, 73% do not have the identity documents required to open a Tier 3 bank account. Research from I4ALL, based on the A2F data, indicates that the poorer you are, the less likely you are to have an ID and that the number of people that referenced ID as a key barrier to opening a bank account or accessing credit increased by 500% between 2018 and 2020.
While substantial progress has been made in NIN enrolment in Nigeria since then, with more than 100 million Nigerians enrolled as of May 2023, there are still 48 million Nigerians without NINs who are likely to be the poorest and hardest to reach.
These Nigerians are also likely to be the most in need of the range of government and financial services that NIN inclusion enables.
Nigeria’s financially excluded population is largely rural, female, and engage in smallholder farming or trading.
Of the 38 million completely financially excluded adults, 81% live in rural areas, and 56% are female. 36% are entirely dependent on other family members for income, while 31% are small traders and 27% smallholder farmers.
Access to financial services is a critical requirement for sustainable rural development.
Context
Inclusion for all (I4ALL) seeks to leverage data and evidence to deepen knowledge about the multiple barriers that keep poor Nigerians excluded from formal financial services while working with multiple stakeholders to advocate for their removal.
The goal is to reduce financial exclusion by driving increased ownership and usage of digital financial services. I4ALL Dialogues are multi-stakeholder engagements for knowledge sharing and exchange, leveraging insights curated by Inclusion for all in alignment with its advocacy campaigns.
Based I4ALL’s analysis of EFInA (Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access) data, the team is established that rural women engaged in trading or farming are most likely to be financially excluded.
On the back of this, I4ALL commissioned IITA to conduct a targeted survey on the impact of exclusion on rural female agricultural workers/farmers and traders; particularly in terms of their access to official identification and the resultant restriction on their participation in the formal financial system in Nigeria.
For context, 80% of Nigeria’s farmers are smallholders – defined as working on an area of land less than 10 hectares. 70% of them live in rural areas, and 70% are also women.
Smallholder farmers are key to Nigeria’s food security, responsible for around 90% of the agricultural produce grown in Nigeria, and 98% of food consumed in homes, barring wheat. They are also a critical contributor to the country’s economy, with agriculture accounting for around a quarter of GDP.
Despite this, 72% of small-scale farmers live below the poverty line of USD 1.9 per day. They face political, economic and financial constraints, which hinder their ability to enhance production as well as their own incomes.
Male out-migration from rural areas to other locations or urban centres in some instances is strong enough to suggest a ‘feminization of agriculture’ and major structural changes in smallholder agriculture are occurring, irrespective of culture.
I4All Dialogues
During the virtual event next week, policy makers, regulators, CSOs, Service providers will discuss the ‘Digital ID for the last mile – enabling access to digital ID for rural female agricultural workers.’
I4All Dialogues is an issues-based and evidence-backed multi-stakeholder convening platform to inform conversations and discuss solutions to the barriers that prevent digital financial inclusion in Nigeria.
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