Rural banks' financial capital and livelihoods development of women farmers in Ghana

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to find out how financial capital from rural banks is contributing to the livelihoods development of women farmers who constitute the most vulnerable and disadvantaged group in Ghana and other developing countries. Design/methodology/approach - Women farmers were randomly sampled, resulting in 100 beneficiary and 100 non‐beneficiary women farmers who were used for the study. The incomes of women farmers were compared and the factors influencing income earnings estimated using simple regressing analysis. Findings - Financial capital from rural banks was found to have positive contributions to the livelihood development of the women farmers and the poor in general. Whereas, the beneficiary women farmers had significant improvement in their access to health care, education and increased income among others, the non‐beneficiaries only had marginal improvements. Research limitations/implications - Women farmers do not keep accurate records on their production activities and had to rely on their memories to give costs of production and outputs obtained. This might have slightly affected the results. Practical implications - Governments and development partners in third world countries should integrate the provision of financial capital in their development policy formulations. This is critical for the attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs), especially on the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger as well as gender equality and empowerment. Originality/value - This research paper brings to light the fact that financial capital is an important tool that can be used to turn life around for poor families and individuals in developing countries in Africa and elsewhere. It demonstrates how financial capital is critical for the attainment of the MDGs.