Abstract

This study aims at doing comprehensive bibliometric review of scholarly literature on the interface between financial technology (fintech) and smallholder farming. The study examines the research terrain of fintech use among smallholder farmers and determine frontiers of research, annotation the field, and document emerging trends over time. The dataset was obtained for the study from scoups due to its extensive coverage of peer reviewed business, economics, and agriculture journals. The study is grounded on 137 articles which symbolize intellectual structure, prominent authors, thematic patterns, and up-and-coming trends in research from ScientoPy and VOSviewer. The study indicates a staggering explosion of research productivity subsequent to 2020, testifying to growing scholarly interest toward digital financial inclusion in rural economies. Co-citation and co-occurrence analyses also categorized four broad thematic clusters as digital finance and financial inclusion, mobile money adoption among smallholder farmers, sustainability and agri-fintech interface, and socio-economic dimensions like gender and rural development. China, USA, and Ghana ranked as the most productive nations, while journals like PLOS ONE, World Development, and China Agricultural Economic Review has been the primary outlets for publication. The study adds to academic literature by presenting a systematic review of the available studies and providing guidelines for future research, specifically in under-researched fields like gender, digital literacy, and policy regulation. Notably, it also provides insight into how FinTech innovations can assist smallholder farmers by enhancing financial access, productivity, and economic resilience.

Keywords: Fintech, Smallholder farmers, Bibliometric analysis, Mobile money, Agricultural finance, VOSviewer, ScientoPy