Farmers across Africa are increasingly turning to digital credit systems to finance their crops and secure better market opportunities. From Ghana to Kenya and Morocco, new agri-fintech innovations are transforming seeds, soils, and harvests into financial identities, giving smallholders long excluded from formal banking a chance to build credit profiles and access funding.
In Ghana, the Accra-based agri-fintech Degas recently secured a US$100 million investment to expand its model of linking seed purchases and repayments to digital credit histories. For farmers like Kofi Mensah in the Eastern Region, whose maize harvest was financed through Degas’s credit program, every transaction from planting to repayment is recorded and logged. “We are seeing more farmers becoming visible to the financial system through the crops they grow,” explained agronomist Ama Nwosu.
This approach, often described as a “credit bureau for seeds,” represents a fundamental shift in rural finance. Instead of requiring land titles or bank guarantees, farmers are now building creditworthiness from their farming activities. Across sub-Saharan Africa, more than 70% of smallholders already use mobile money, providing a digital trail that lenders can analyze for loans and input financing.
Governments are also driving the transformation. In February 2025, Kenya launched the national Electronic Warehouse Receipt System (e-WRS), digitizing crop storage and allowing maize, wheat, and beans stored in certified warehouses to serve as collateral for bank loans. Senegal has digitized its fertilizer subsidy program, linking mobile money transactions directly to farmer records. Meanwhile, Morocco is piloting AI-enabled irrigation systems that not only optimize scarce water use but also feed data into farmers’ financial profiles.
Experts see this as a redefinition of financial identity in agriculture. “Creditworthiness is no longer just about bank statements,” said Kisumu-based extension officer Abel Otwoma. “It is increasingly about the seeds farmers plant, the inputs they redeem, and the practices they adopt.”
Private and institutional investors are taking note. The African Development Bank has proposed a US$500 million facility to unlock US$10 billion in financing for smallholders, while venture capital continues to flow into agri-fintech startups across the continent. Companies like Apollo Agriculture in Kenya, ThriveAgric in Nigeria, and Nile in Southern Africa are developing platforms that track farm activities and translate them into credit access.
With Africa holding more than 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, digital agriculture is emerging not only as a pathway to food security but also as a strategic global asset. As Otwoma observed, “The question for farmers is shifting from whether the bank will take their land as collateral to whether their seeds, practices, and harvests are recorded because that’s what will unlock credit for the next season.”