Abstract
This study examined whether diversification into off-farm income generating activities has any significance in facilitating
financial inclusion. Data were collected by a questionnaire through a household-level survey data from 130 peri-urban
small-scale agricultural households in Kwara State, Nigeria. Data were subjected to descriptive, Binary and the Tobit
regression analysis. Findings reveal that households who diversify their income sources away from agriculture are more
likely to have received off-farm earnings through a bank account (p<0.01). Furthermore, households with off-farm monthly
earnings of at least N18,000 (USD 111) are likely to own a bank account (p<0.01), are more diversified and received a
greater amount of income from off-farm activities (p<0.01) and are not married (p<0.1).Findings open potential avenues
for future research; specifically, the extent to which off-farm recipients actively make use of their accounts to obtain credit
and advocates for policies that would lower the barrier cost to financial inclusion through enhanced proceeds from off-farm activities.
