Influence of Money Transfer Technological Innovations on Performance of Agricultural Projects: a Case of Greenhouse Farming in Kiambu Sub - County, Kenya

Abstract

Technology keeps changing as the world evolves into a global village. This has led to technological innovations that have made life easier by bringing convenience to day to day needs. Technological innovations in the financial sector have made sending money affordable, fast and increased accessibility of funds. These improvements of technology in sending money have benefited the agriculture sector in improving financial inclusion for farmers. The study therefore aimed at establishing the influence of money transfer technological innovations on performance of agricultural projects and examined a case of greenhouse farmers in Kiambu Sub-county. The objectives of the research were: To determine the influence of Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, Agency Banking and Electronic cards on performance of agricultural projects. The study employed descriptive survey design and focused on greenhouse farmers in Kiambu Sub-county. The target population was greenhouse farmers in Kiambu Sub-county who use technology to transfer money. A sample of 149 respondents was used in the study out of a target population of 81 greenhouse farmers in Kiambu sub-county. The main data collection instrument was questionnaires and secondary data was collected from books, published reports, journals and the internet. The data collected was analyzed through descriptive statistics and correlation analysis using statistical package for social science (SPSS). The findings of the study indicated that a strong positive correlation existed between mobile banking and performance of agricultural projects with r = .803 and significant at p = 0.00< α (0.005), there was a weak positive correlation between internet banking and performance of agricultural projects with r = .424 and significant at p = 0.00< α (0.005), agency banking and performance of agricultural projects had a positive correlation with an r value of .651 and a p value of 0.000< α (0.005) and lastly there was a moderate positive correlation between electronic cards performance of agricultural projects with r = .510 which was further significant at p = 0.00< α (0.005). The study concluded that mobile banking had an influence on performance of agricultural projects due to the ease of use, internet banking is restrained by the high cost and lack of IT skills, agency banking has a major influence on the performance of agricultural projects mainly due to their easy accessibility and lastly electronic cards had a moderate influence on the performance of agriculture. The study recommended that there is need to come up with proper information systems and infrastructure and involve customers in the development stage of product development to better understand their needs, new technological channels should be priced fairly to encourage more users to adopt it and finally measures should be in place to ensure security of funds being sent so as to increase confidence in these technological innovations so that more people adopt them. The findings of the study may help farmers find cheaper and more convenient ways of transferring money through technology. It may also provide information to policy makers on financing agriculture and making payments to farmers using technological innovations and act as source of reference to the Government of Kenya in making improvements in the agricultural sector