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

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.