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- UfarmX has facilitated more than $6.8 million in agricultural commerce across Nigeria, Senegal and Liberia, using digital technology to improve smallholder farmers’ access to credit and markets.
- The AgriTech startup uses blockchain-backed transaction records and farmer data to help assess creditworthiness and enable farmers to access agricultural inputs without conventional collateral.
- More than 17,000 smallholder farmers have been credit-scored through the platform, while its insured retailer channel has recorded a reported 1.17% net default rate.
- UfarmX plans to expand into Kenya in Q4 2026 and launch a credit-scoring API that could allow banks and financial institutions to use its agricultural data and underwriting system when assessing farmers for loans.
Nigerian AgriTech startup UfarmX has facilitated more than US$6.8 million in agricultural commerce across Nigeria, Senegal and Liberia, using blockchain-backed credit infrastructure and farmer data to connect more than 17,000 credit-scored smallholder farmers with agricultural inputs and markets.
The company is now preparing to expand into Kenya in the fourth quarter of 2026 as it seeks to extend its technology-driven lending model into East Africa.
UfarmX uses a transparent blockchain ledger to support transactions between farmers and agricultural retailers, allowing farmers to obtain inputs on credit while creating a record of their activities and repayment behaviour. The platform also connects farmers to markets after harvest and collects agricultural data that can be used to assess their creditworthiness.
The startup currently operates across Nigeria, Senegal and Liberia, working with a network of vetted retail partners.
Its insured retailer channel has recorded a 1.17% net default rate on collateral-free credit, according to figures reported by Disrupt Africa. The company says the model is designed to address a major barrier facing smallholder farmers: limited access to formal agricultural finance.
UfarmX CEO Alexander Zanders said the company initially used direct lending to test whether farmers would repay and whether access to finance could improve farm outcomes.
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“Farmers repaid, yields improved, revenues grew,” Zanders told Disrupt Africa, explaining that the company later moved towards a retailer-led model because traditional banks were too slow to build a business around the opportunity.
Under the current model, local agricultural retailers extend credit to farmers using UfarmX’s data and underwriting system, reducing the need for farmers to provide conventional collateral or wait for a bank loan.
The company plans to introduce a credit-scoring API by the end of 2026, allowing banks and financial institutions to assess agricultural loan applications using UfarmX’s underwriting infrastructure.
Its platform currently uses more than 200 data points, including GPS information, crop type, yield projections, commodity prices and socioeconomic factors, according to the company’s website.
UfarmX is also preparing for its first East African expansion in Kenya in Q4 2026, while holding discussions with banks, development finance institutions, insurers and agricultural input companies interested in accessing its credit infrastructure.
The development highlights how blockchain, data analytics and digital credit scoring are being applied beyond payments to address financing constraints in African agriculture.
For smallholder farmers, the technology could create a more data-driven pathway to agricultural credit, while giving lenders additional information to assess borrowers who have historically been difficult to serve through conventional banking systems.
