Abstract
BackgroundThis paper examined the effect of Micro-Agricultural Financial Institutions of South Africa financial services on livelihood capital of beneficiaries in North West Province South Africa. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 280 respondents from a total of 344 beneficiaries. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from November 2015 to March 2016, which was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) with frequencies, percentages and Wilcoxon signed-rank test.ResultsThe results of the study show that there has been a significant change on livelihood assets after MAFISA support. The proportion of access and ownership of livelihood assets increased for most of the indicators of the assets by at least 90% after MAFISA support. Wilcoxon signed-rank test results revealed that access to financial capital from banks improved substantially (Z scores = 15.556; p value = 0.000) and cooperatives (Z score = −11.305; p value = 0.000). Respondents are now able to associate and form some networks with others (Z score = −15.875; p value = 0.000), network with government (Z score = −15.811; p value = 0.000) and network with the private sector (Z score = −15.363; p value = 0.000).ConclusionsThe study concludes that access to microfinance leads to significant changes in financial, social, natural, human, physical and social livelihood assets after MAFISA support. The proportion of access and ownership of livelihood assets increased for most of the indicators of the assets by at least 90% after MAFISA support. Statistical significant differences confirmed the changes in the proportion of beneficiaries before and after MAFISA support such as access to financial capital from banks improved substantially and cooperatives, networking with others, network with government and network with the private sector as well as increasing their skills and competencies as well as their physical asset accumulation.
Highlights
This paper examined the effect of Micro-Agricultural Financial Institutions of South Africa financial services on livelihood capital of beneficiaries in North West Province South Africa
The indicators for financial capital show that access and capacity of respondents to government subsidies, Government grant, Income generated, Personal savings and Business investments increased by at least 90%, while personal loans taken and loan shark services decreased by at least 95% after Micro-Agricultural Finance Institutions of South Africa (MAFISA) support
The results of physical capital of the project on “before and after” of the project are presented in Table 2, and these results show the differences in the indicators on physical capital before and after MAFISA support using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test
Summary
This paper examined the effect of Micro-Agricultural Financial Institutions of South Africa financial services on livelihood capital of beneficiaries in North West Province South Africa. Micro-Agricultural Finance Institutions of South Africa (MAFISA) was established by government in 2004 with a view to facilitate the provision of equitable access to financial services by economically active rural communities [1]. A livelihood framework was used to measure the impact of MAFISA financial services on beneficiaries’ livelihood, with special focus on their capital. According to [1], access to microfinance is not in itself sufficient to ensure desired positive impact on the livelihood of clients rather the combination of livelihood assets. According to [3], access to financial capital to acquire fixed assets is important for any business to have a competitive advantage and sustain its operations. Handa et al [4] assert that microfinance has positive impact on clients as assets increased after association with an intervention measure
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