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Essays

Vol. 21 No. 1 (2019): Possibilità delle indipendenze in Africa

Patterns of Mobile Money Adoption among Small Farmers in Kiambu and Machakos Counties Kenya

  • Raffaello Petti
Submitted
April 3, 2024
Published
2024-04-03

Abstract

Mobile money transfers have become the most widespread financial services in SubSaharan Africa. Over the last decade, they have been widely saluted as a ‘pro-poor, developmental’ technology for the financial inclusion and empowerment of millions of unbanked people. Moreover, along the years, several micro-level studies have brought evidence of the positive impacts of mobile money on the livelihoods of rural and agricultural households, especially thanks to the higher in-flow of remittances. On the base of field research carried out in two Kenyan counties, Kiambu and Machakos, this article explores the patterns of adoption among small-scale farming households. In particular, it argues that uneven uptake patterns determine the unequal distribution of the ‘developmental’ impacts of such services – which in turn reinforces old inequalities while producing new ones.