INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY BUILDING THE EVIDENCE BASE ON SMALLHOLDER HOUSEHOLDS Œhe sheer numbers of smallholders (estimated at “•” million to ”’’ million smallholder farmers, with …­” billion to ‘­” billion people living in smallholder households worldwide), their significant share of the world’s poor, and their role in food security in low-income countries mae financial inclusion of small- • holder households a development priority­ ƒimited financial inclusion among smallholder households is driven by a range of factors­ Œhese include, inter alia, the high transaction costs of reaching rural households the low population density of rural areas, which maes reaching scale economies challenging and the systemic (and perceived) riss of agricultural production that deter finan- cial service providers (Ss) from lending for agricultural production or other- ¡ wise engaging with farming households­ ‰espite the renewed appreciation for the role that smallholder households can play in driving financial inclusion, little is nown about this uniue yet mas- sive client group­ €nformation about how they manage their financial lives and the financial tools they demand is even more difficult to find­ Œhough no financial inclusion statistics have specifically traced smallholder households, smallholder families are liely over-represented among the finan- cially excluded­ ªural inclusion, often taen as a proxy for smallholder inclu- ž sion, is lower than urban inclusion­ Œhe urban¤rural disparities reported in index ‘’…… for adults holding an account in sub-Saharan ˆfrica are Ÿ¡ percent urban¤‘… percent rural, and for South ˆsia are Ÿ• percent urban¤Ÿ… percent rural­…’ ƒooing more closely at individual countries, estimates using index ‘’…“ data for aistan, Œan—ania, and ©ganda show a similar urban¤rural divide, with estimated account penetration in rural areas of Œan—ania, for example, less …… than half of that in urban areas (see Œable …)­ †‡ˆ has been woring to build the evidence base on smallholder house- holds as a first step in improving smallholders access to and uptae of a range of relevant financial tools­ Œo address the dearth of relevant data to guide financial inclusion interventions that target smallholder households, †‡ˆ launched two ma„or demand-side research initiatives with smallholder households to better understand their financial lives, agricultural activities, and household livelihood strategies () financial diaries with smallholder households (“Small- | 13