CropSense AI, an agricultural risk intelligence company under CipherSense AI Technologies, has expanded access to its artificial intelligence-powered agricultural credit scoring platform, YieldRank, to more banks, microfinance institutions and development finance institutions (DFIs) across Africa following the successful completion of its pilot programme.

The company said the decision followed months of testing with selected financial institutions, which commenced in January 2026, during which the model’s performance was validated against real lending portfolios.

YieldRank was developed to enable financial institutions assess agricultural credit risk using satellite data, climate intelligence and alternative financial indicators, rather than relying solely on conventional credit histories, which are unavailable for many smallholder farmers across the continent.

According to industry estimates, nearly 80 per cent of Africa’s smallholder farmers remain excluded from formal credit, contributing to an estimated $100 billion agricultural financing gap in Sub-Saharan Africa. Traditional farm assessments, which often take between two and four weeks and cost between $50 and $200 per application, have also made small agricultural loans unattractive for many lenders.

Speaking on the expansion, the Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of CipherSense AI, Olaoye Anthony Somide, said the wider rollout was driven by the confidence gained from the pilot phase.

“We didn’t want to launch YieldRank on assumptions; we wanted to launch it on evidence. Having proven the model with our pilot partners, we’re now opening the platform to more banks, microfinance institutions and development finance institutions so they can make lending decisions based on reliable agricultural intelligence rather than guesswork. We believe this will help improve responsible lending and expand access to finance for millions of underserved farmers across Africa,” he said.

The company explained that YieldRank generates monthly risk scores throughout the crop cycle by combining satellite-derived crop health and yield information, climate risk analysis covering drought and flood exposure, as well as alternative financial indicators such as mobile money activity and cooperative membership.

CropSense AI said the expanded rollout is targeted at commercial banks, development finance institutions, fintech lenders, microfinance institutions, cooperatives and agribusinesses financing agricultural inputs and commodity offtake.

The company added that participating institutions will also be able to benchmark YieldRank against their historical lending portfolios during onboarding to evaluate the platform’s predictive capabilities before full deployment.

CropSense AI noted that the transition from a closed pilot to broader access forms part of its strategy to promote climate-smart, data-driven agricultural lending and support financial institutions seeking to responsibly increase rural credit across Africa.