Strategies to Increase Farmers' Financial Inclusion

Abstract

This research aims to determine the level of interest by farmers in using theservices of formal financial institutions, especially digital financial services(DFS). The methods of the research were descriptive statistics and SEM analysis.The majority of respondents (50%) farmed an average area of land less than0.5 hectares, 26% of respondents an average of 0.75-1 hectares and 24% ofrespondents an average of 0.5-0.75 hectares of land. Based on the status of landownership, nas many as 76% of nrespondents owned the property itself, 19% hada lleaser arrangement and 5% used state owned larablerland. A total of 27% ofthe farmers were interested in using DFS while 34% were not. The lack of interesetwas due to practical uses, enjoyment of cash and lack of knowledge. The reasonfor interest in DFS included practicality, speed, and security of use. Results fromthe SEM model indicate a significant and positive influence of Access to Usage,significant and negative influence of DFS to Access, significant and positiveinfluence of DFS to Interest, significant and positive of Interest to Desire, and asignificant and positive Desire to Access.