{
  "id": 9531424,
  "title": "The $6.8M credit engine hidden inside a Nigerian cassava patch",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/the-6-8m-credit-engine-hidden-inside-a-nigerian-cassava-patch",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-24T09:23:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechCabal",
    "slug": "techcabal",
    "url": "https://techcabal.com/2026/09/24/the-6-8m-credit-engine-hidden-inside-a-nigerian-cassava-patch/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In 2015, Alexander Zanders stood on 2,000 acres of land in Oyo State, southwestern Nigeria, which had been recently given to him by his grandmother. The land was surrounded by cassava fields, where local farmers were harvesting, processing, and sun-drying the crop for garri—a staple food across Nigeria. Intrigued by the potential, Zanders initially planned to build a cassava processing plant to cater to the local population. However, the devaluation of the Nigerian naira made importing machinery for the processing plant financially unfeasible.\n\nUndeterred, Zanders bought 100 acres of land and began farming himself. He launched a small experiment to supply 15 local maize growers with inputs on credit, which resulted in a significant improvement in crop yields and farmer revenues. Zanders recognized that the key to farmers' success was their access to quality inputs such as seeds and fertilizers.\n\nIn 2019, Zanders incorporated UfarmX, a credit infrastructure business, to evaluate farmer creditworthiness using proprietary data, enabling agro-retailers to offer inputs on credit. Before UfarmX became a fintech infrastructure platform, it operated as a working farm, where Zanders noticed significant differences in farming practices and input access among local growers. By providing quality inputs to farmers, UfarmX observed that their yields tripled and revenues more than doubled, while UfarmX itself made a significant profit from the margins on the inputs sold.",
  "summary": "UfarmX is a credit infrastructure business that evaluates farmer creditworthiness using proprietary data, allowing agro-retailers to extend inputs on credit.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}