First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and MasterCard are deploying digital infrastructure to address the data gap that has long hindered financial institutions from assessing smallholder farmers' creditworthiness and extending financing.
The companies have launched AgroPass, a digital platform that connects farmers with lenders, agricultural input suppliers, commodity buyers and other service providers.
Developed by MasterCard under its Community Pass initiative, AgroPass creates digital records of farmers and their economic activities, giving financial institutions greater visibility into a segment that has traditionally operated outside formal financial systems.
The records are intended to provide alternative data for assessing creditworthiness, particularly among farmers with limited or no formal banking histories, reducing reliance on conventional credit records and collateral requirements.
The platform targets a significant agricultural financing gap in Nigeria. According to the Development Bank of Nigeria, citing Central Bank of Nigeria data, agriculture contributed 27.55% of the country's gross domestic product in 2025 but received just 6.30% of total private-sector bank credit.
The World Bank's May 2025 Nigeria Development Update identified digital platforms and alternative data, including farm yields and digital payment records, as potential tools for improving agricultural credit scoring and expanding access to finance.
FCMB managing director Yemisi Edun, represented at the launch by Obaro Odeghe, executive director of Wholesale Banking, said the initiative would extend beyond conventional lending by connecting farmers to the markets, technology, knowledge and services needed to improve productivity.
FCMB said it provided more than ₦364.6 billion ($236 million) in agricultural financing last year, supporting over 196,000 smallholder farmers. Women and young people accounted for at least half of the beneficiaries.
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