BoA Overhauls Digital Platform to Unlock Credit to Farmers

The Bank of Agriculture (BoA) is undergoing a significant transformation, moving away from outdated lending methods to embrace a technology-driven financing model. Managing Director Ayo Sotinrin stated the bank aims to reach millions of genuine farmers, boost food production, and protect public funds by focusing on measurable outcomes rather than just loan disbursement.

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we can’t finance every farmer, but we can fix the system constraining agriculture

BoA is repositioning itself as a commercially-run development finance bank, operating as a limited liability company with a developmental mandate. The transformation hinges on three pillars: restructuring the institution, strengthening its lending capacity through recapitalization, and redesigning financing to better serve farmers and agribusinesses. Sotinrin noted that upon his arrival over a year ago, the bank suffered from neglect, outdated technology, and inefficient manual processes.

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the country’s foremost agricultural development bank is repositioning itself as a commercially-run development finance bank rather than a government agency

The institution has undertaken a complete digital overhaul, establishing a Technical Working Group led by Ernst & Young, with support from chief technology officers from major Nigerian banks. This has led to the deployment of core banking applications, internet and mobile banking platforms, digital payment systems, ATM cards with customer identity information, electronic wallets, and smart point-of-sale devices. These innovations are expected to enhance transparency and reduce fraud and administrative delays that have historically hindered agricultural programs.

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Rather than merely modernising existing systems, he explained that the bank opted for a complete digital overhaul.

Digitization will allow government interventions like fertilizer and seed subsidies to be loaded electronically into farmers' digital wallets. Beneficiaries will collect approved inputs from accredited suppliers, thereby eliminating leakages, diversion, and the influence of middlemen. The new system also integrates Artificial Intelligence for monitoring purposes, aiming to further improve efficiency and accountability within the agricultural sector.

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digitisation will significantly improve transparency while reducing fraud and administrative bottlenecks that have historically plagued intervention programmes.