Agriculture and food security account for 49 per cent of all AI deployments in Kenya, report states.
A local firm has come up with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) data-driven credit solution for farmers. The solution by Fortune Sacco aims to simplify the long procedures and requirements for loan application by farmers.
According to Fortune, the AI datadriven credit solution will eliminate the labour-intensive paperwork and conducting background checks on borrowers.
The programme consolidates relevant farmer information and creates an AI-driven database. In an interview with Seeds of Gold during the launch of the AI-Powered Credit Scoring Solution for Farmers in Nairobi this week, Fortune Sacco Deputy CEO Timothy Muthike said the programme would enable the firm to extend efficient financial services to farmers.
“We are focusing on organised sectors like coffee and tea, with a key interest in unstructured farmers engaged in subsistence activities like banana, tomato, muguka, avocado and French beans,” he said.
Muthike added that despite these sectors contributing hugely to Kenya’s GDP, lending institutions remain sceptical on dealing with farmers.
The crops lack a comprehensive database, leaving farmers, particularly smallholders, without financial interventions.
The programme analyses multiple data points for farmers, including soft information like marital status, spouse details, number of children, children’s school report, land size and number of crop stems.
“This database is ordinarily unavailable. With AI, we collect vital information that accelerates lending decisions using multiple data sets as opposed to traditional approaches such as guarantors, shares and production methods,” Muthike explained.
“We want to consider farmers as a whole, including their aspirations, so that we can tailor a product beneficial to the sacco and farmers. The use of technology and data to make accurate or near-accurate credit decisions is important.”
The drive is funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and targets 60,000 registered farmers.
Muthike said about 15,000 farmers are already accessing credit through the AI database approach. Other sponsors are data, AI and innovation companies such as Pathways Technologies.
“To digitise agriculture, we need to forgo traditional methods,” said Pathways Technologies CEO Joel Onditi.
As the world advances in digital technology to improve services and product quality, Onditi stressed the need for data collection in farming. He said this approach would help the government and agriculture players address farmers’ challenges, including enabling financial institutions to make efficient credit support decisions.
“Fintech has revolutionised finance. Agriculture needs to follow suit,” Onditi said.
The government is undertaking a National Livestock Master Plan intervention. This aims to streamline the country’s animal sector.
The implementation of Fortune’s AIPowered Credit Scoring Solution for Farmers is budgeted at Sh80 million this year. To comply with the Data Protection Act, registered farmers are engaged through consent. Muthike said the sacco has adhered to the set standards.
