Digital Financial Services On Boosting Financial Inclusion,

Agribusiness, And Livelihoods

Digital financial services are financial solutions such as banking, savings,

insurance, financial education, and affordable access to credit, among others,
aimed at reaching the middle to lower classes. The main delivery channel is
through innovative technologies such as solutions that enable cell phones,
electronic money models, and digital payment platforms.

Financial inclusion can be defined as access to and use of formal financial

services by populations underprivileged whose needs must be in accordance with
customer needs, provided at affordable costs for customers, and sustainable for
providers.

Agribusiness on the other hand is agriculture which is carried out with

commercial principles, mainly using advanced technology. An estimated 2 billion
people of working age globally do not have access to the types of formal financial
services provided by official financial institutions. For example, in Sub-Saharan
Africa, only 24% of people have a bank account even though Africa's formal
financial sector has grown in recent years. According to research conducted by the
BBC on mobile banking, it was determined that more than 2.7 billion people
living in developing countries do not have access to any financial services, but
more than 1 billion people have cellphones so that is a big advantage for both
institutions traditional finance and cellular telephone companies to take advantage
by developing digital financial services aimed at increasing financial inclusion in
the agribusiness sector

Digital finance also has an important role to play for small businesses that
do agriculture because it allows them to access electronic payment systems such
as mass payment solutions to pay suppliers, and secure financial products. This is
very important in improving agribusiness because owners can monitor, predict,
and understand their business for better management.
 Most agribusiness fraternities are able to clearly define food security but
are unable to distinguish it from food sovereignty. Most will ensure that food
security is what they have fought for, through increased production and
diversification of food crops to the point where it does not work. Because of their
low literacy levels, they may not be able to define food sovereignty in their local
language, but they will recognize all conditions of food sovereignty such as easy
access to land, labor, markets, and entrepreneurial skills.

Digital financial inclusion has significantly increased the livelihoods of

women-owned agribusinesses by helping them respond positively to negative
financial shocks that are mostly caused by men (breadwinners and family heads)
who spend all their savings in drinking local brews.