Digital Infrastructure Access, Fintech Adoption, And Financial Inclusion Among Smallholder Farmers in North Central Nigeria: A PLS-SEM Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Smallholder farmers account for the majority of Nigeria's food production yet remain largely excluded from formal financial services, constraining productivity and rural economic development. This study examines whether access to digital infrastructure drives FinTech adoption among smallholder farmers, and whether FinTech adoption, in turn, translates into meaningful financial inclusion. Design/Methodology/Approach: A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was employed. Structured questionnaires were administered face-to-face to smallholder farmers across Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in Nigeria's North Central region, using a stratified multi-stage sampling procedure. Of 445 questionnaires distributed, 392 valid responses were obtained (88.1% response rate). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS was used to assess the measurement model and to test the hypothesised structural relationships between digital infrastructure access, FinTech adoption, and financial inclusion. Findings: All constructs demonstrated strong reliability and convergent validity (Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, and AVE values exceeding recommended thresholds). Digital infrastructure access exerted a strong, positive, and statistically significant effect on FinTech adoption (β = 0.934, t = 138.009, p < 0.001), explaining 87.2% of the variance in adoption. FinTech adoption, in turn, had a strong positive effect on financial inclusion (β = 0.873, t = 50.832, p < 0.001). Both hypothesised paths were robustly supported, with effect sizes considerably larger than those typically reported in comparable technology-adoption studies. Practical Implications: The findings indicate that digital infrastructure functions as a threshold precondition rather than a marginal enabler of FinTech adoption in resource constrained rural settings. Policymakers, mobile network operators, and FinTech providers should therefore prioritise rural connectivity and infrastructure investment as a precondition for financial-inclusion programming, rather than treating infrastructure and adoption facilitation initiatives as parallel, independent workstreams. Originality: This study provides rare, statistically robust, empirically grounded evidence of the infrastructure–adoption–inclusion pathway among smallholder farmers in a developing economy agricultural setting, using a large, regionally stratified sample and rigorous PLS SEM validation. It extends Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation theory by demonstrating that communication-channel access can function as a binding constraint rather than a merely facilitating condition in infrastructure-scarce rural economies.