Smallholder Farmers Want Access to Financial Services, Survey Indicates

Smallholder farmers in Tanzania want access to credit, saving, and loan products to improve their agricultural practices and output, a recent survey indicates.

The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) has recently published the National Survey and Segmentation of Smallholder Households in Tanzania.

Key findings indicate that only 10% of smallholders in Tanzania have personal bank accounts, although 49% have access to mobile money.

However, 8 in 10 smallholders consider having savings and nonsavings bank accounts as important for their agricultural activities.

Smallholder farmers in Tanzania dominate the agricultural sector, cultivating 5.1m hectares annually, of which 85% is food crops.

They contribute to over 75% of total agricultural outputs in Tanzania, producing mainly for home consumption, and using traditional technologies.

Smallholder families in Tanzania primarily grow food and staple crops. Maize is the most commonly grown staple crop, followed by beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, and rice.

According to the survey, smallholder farmers in Tanzania have high awareness of mobile money, which they see as a secure location for saving money.

66% of smallholders have their own mobile phone, and 82% have used a phone. In contrast, 46% of smallholder farmers in Uganda and 33% in Mozambique have their own phone.

61% of adults in Tanzania have a registered mobile money account, up from 38% in 2014 and 44% in 2013.

Tanzanians using mobile money products are transacting an average of USD1.6bn per month according to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Financial Stability Report published in December 2015.

This volume places Tanzania among the world’s leaders on mobile money usage ahead of developed countries.