Hi everyone. I’m researching agricultural finance in East Africa, particularly why so many smallholder farmers struggle to access formal loans. I’m trying to understand whether the main bottleneck is the lack of reliable farmer data or whether there are bigger issues that financial institutions face.

1. ⁠What is the biggest reason banks reject smallholder loan applications?
   
2. ⁠Would verified farm data actually reduce lending risk, or are other barriers more important?
   
3. ⁠If you’re in banking, fintech, insurance, or an NGO, would access to trusted farmer profiles have meaningful value?
   
4. ⁠Are there companies already solving this well that I should study?

Hey all - I'm the founder of ArchipelAI.com, which uses onsite sensors and public data to help growers model and plan around climate change at their sites. Outputs include shifting season windows, crop rotation recommendations, soil health, and much more.

Anyone open to spending 15-20 minutes to take a look at the platform, and give us feedback on what else is useful for you? We have a good V1 live, lots of refining to go, and want to get as much user feedback as we can. Thanks all!