Impact of Rural Financial Institutions Building Program (RUFIN) on the Productivity of Women-Owned Farms and Non-Farm Enterprises in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the impact of the Rural Financial Institution Building Program (RUFIN) on the productivity of women-owned farms and non-farm enterprises in Northern Nigeria. The study utilized primary data collected through a questionnaire administered to 390 beneficiaries and an equal number of non-beneficiaries selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The productivity of women-owned enterprises was determined using Total Factor Productivity (TFP), which was measured as a ratio of the total annual output of the enterprise to the product of capital input, labor input, and total material input. The propensity score matching approach was used to analyze data because of its aptness for overcoming selection bias in an intervention project like RUFIN. Four matching algorithms were tried, which include Nearest Neighbour Matching, Radius Matching, Epanechnikov Kernel Matching, and Stratification methods. Results showed the treatment (RUFIN) had a significant effect on the productivity of women-owned enterprises at 1% probability level, irrespective of the matching method. For the selected stratification matching method, the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) was 1.673, indicating participation in RUFIN increases the enterprise productivity of a given beneficiary by 1.673. The study concludes that RUFIN had positive impacts on the productivity of beneficiaries. It is recommended that institutionalized development programs that mirror the design and implementation approach of Rural Financial Institution Building Program (RUFIN) should be promoted across national and sub-national governments of Nigeria as a means