How AgroDev Zambia Scaled Agricultural Lending 5x with Satellite Monitoring

The Challenge

AgroDev Zambia is a leading agricultural development finance company focused on smallholder farmers. Despite strong demand for agricultural credit, they faced significant challenges:

Manual assessment processes requiring field visits for each application
High default rates due to unpredictable weather and market conditions
Limited scale – loan officers could only process 3-4 applications per day
Risk aversion – the organization rejected many viable farmers due to lack of data

“We knew there were thousands of creditworthy farmers we couldn’t reach. We just didn’t have the tools to assess them efficiently.” – Head of Lending, AgroDev Zambia

The Solution

AgroDev partnered with Loanegyzer to implement a comprehensive digital lending platform with:

Satellite Crop Monitoring

Using high-resolution satellite imagery updated every 5 days, AgroDev can now:

Verify farm boundaries and cultivated area
Monitor crop health throughout the growing season
Detect early signs of drought stress or disease
Estimate expected yields before harvest

AI Credit Scoring (LECB)

Loanegyzer’s proprietary credit scoring engine analyzes:

Historical yield data by location
Weather pattern analysis
Mobile money transaction history
Input purchase records
Community repayment patterns

Digital Loan Origination

The new end-to-end digital workflow includes:

Mobile application submission by field agents
Automated document verification
Real-time credit decisioning
Electronic disbursement via mobile money
SMS-based repayment reminders

Implementation Journey

Phase 1: Pilot (Months 1-3)

AgroDev launched with 500 farmers in Southern Province:

Onboarded 12 loan officers to the mobile app
Integrated with MTN and Airtel mobile money
Achieved 95% data accuracy on farm boundaries

Phase 2: Expansion (Months 4-8)

Based on pilot success, expansion to Central and Eastern Provinces:

Trained 45 additional field agents
Processed 5,000+ loan applications
Reduced average processing time from 2 weeks to 2 days

Phase 3: Scale (Months 9-12)

National rollout with advanced features:

Portfolio-wide risk monitoring dashboard
Automated early warning system for at-risk loans
Integration with ZIAMIS for farmer verification
Custom reporting for investor due diligence

Results

After 12 months with Loanegyzer, AgroDev achieved remarkable results:

Metric	Before	After	Change
Monthly loan approvals	200	1,000+	5x
Default rate	18%	11.7%	-35%
Processing time	14 days	2 days	-86%
Farmers served	3,000	15,000	5x
Portfolio at Risk (PAR30)	22%	9%	-59%

Key Learnings

Several factors contributed to AgroDev’s success:

Start with data quality: Investing time in accurate farm mapping paid dividends in model accuracy
Engage field teams early: Loan officers became champions when they saw the tools helping them succeed
Iterate on scoring models: Continuous refinement based on repayment data improved predictions
Communicate with farmers: SMS updates built trust and improved repayment behavior

What’s Next

AgroDev is now working with Loanegyzer to:

Launch value chain financing for input suppliers
Integrate with crop insurance providers
Expand to neighboring countries
Pilot livestock financing with geolocation tracking

“Loanegyzer has transformed how we think about agricultural lending. We’re no longer just processing loans – we’re managing a living, data-driven portfolio that gets smarter every season.” – CEO, AgroDev Zambia

Key Results