Business

Less than 5% of smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa can access formal credit, and even fewer have insurance. With no reliable way to quantify farm-level risk without credit history, collateral, or verifiable agricultural records, banks and insurers struggle to help close the financing gap in this sector.

eSusFarm addresses this as agricultural financial infrastructure. The company delivers parametric climate insurance, milestone-based credit, and a compounding Farmer Score to smallholder farmers across four countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which are accessible via USSD with no smartphone or internet required. Its Climate Risk Engine collects daily satellite data (temperature, rainfall, evapotranspiration, and water balance) per farm GPS location, enabling insurance policies that trigger automatically when predefined climate thresholds are met. Farmers receive personalised weather and agricultural advisory messages, with delivery optimised to each farmer’s individually tracked reading hour.

Farmers are incentivised to maintain and improve soil health as eSusFarm attaches scoring to credit terms. Those who improve their soil chemistry between seasons receive higher scores and better credit terms. This creates a direct financial incentive for soil restoration that no traditional credit product provides.

Impact

By making climate insurance viable for smallholder farmers, eSusFarm reduces the economic pressures that drive unsustainable land-use decisions following climate shocks. Insured farmers are more likely to replant after crop loss, actively manage their land, and maintain the vegetation buffers that protect biodiversity corridors and watershed integrity. The Farmer Score’s soil health weighting creates a measurable, financially incentivised pathway to land restoration at scale.