DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

This study examined financial inclusion and welfare outcomes among rural women in the Edo North Agricultural Zone of Edo State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socio- economic characteristics of respondents; assess their awareness, access, and utilization of financial services; evaluate their welfare status; and identify structural, institutional, and socio-cultural barriers affecting financial inclusion. A three-stage sampling procedure was used to select 180 women for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics at the 5% level of significance. Results showed that respondents’ mean age was 46 years, with an average household size of five persons, nine years of formal education, and a mean monthly income of ₦64,298.83. The religious distribution revealed that 48.9% were Christians and 46.7% were Muslims, while 36.8% engaged in farming and 33.5% in trading as major occupations. More than half of the respondents demonstrated high levels of awareness (62.1%) and access (55.5%) to financial services, and exactly half (50%) exhibited a high level of financial service utilization. Garrett’s ranking indicated that ir regular income (structural), distance to financial institutions (institutional), and lack of trust in financial institutions (socio-cultural) were the most severe constraints to inclusion. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) revealed that 46.2% of respondents were severely food insecure. Multiple linear regression analysis identified four statistically significant predictors of welfare at the 5% level: age (β = 0.106, p = 0.038) showed a positive relationship with welfare (implying that food insecurity increases as respondents grow older), while awareness (β = –0.8213, p = 0.002), access (β = –0.6944, p = 0.018), and utilization (β = –0.4160, p = 0.001) had a negative relationship (suggesting that food insecurity decreases with higher levels of financial Inclusion)