More farmers continue ditching the State’s Hustler Fund and digital lending alternatives such as Fuliza in favour of banks and savings and credit cooperatives (saccos) to finance agricultural activities, a new Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey shows, encouraged by lower interest charges.
The survey showed that the proportion of farmers who tapped credit from the Hustler Fund dropped to a low of nine percent last month.
“The proportion that reported having borrowed from the Hustler Fund was relatively lower at nine percent in September 2025. The main sources of credit reported by farmers in the September 2025 survey were banks and saccos,” said the CBK.
“The sustained monetary policy easing has resulted in relatively lower lending rates, and this may explain why a relatively larger share of farmers reported to have borrowed from banks and saccos.”
The Hustler Fund, officially known as the Financial Inclusion Fund, was launched in late 2022 as part of President William Ruto’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (Beta), which aims to uplift millions of ordinary Kenyans, including farmers, from poverty by providing them with personal loans.
Under the fund, which also has a savings component, individual borrowers were to receive between Sh500 and Sh50,000 via their mobile phones.
Five percent of the disbursement to each borrower has been withheld as savings, whereas 70 percent has been retained as long-term savings, with the balance making up short-term savings.
The lower uptake of funds from Hustler Fund came as the overall proportion of farmers who reported having borrowed to finance farming was relatively low at 31 percent in September 2025, compared to 41 percent in July 2025.
“However, a larger proportion reported to have borrowed from banks in September 2025 compared to July 2025. Similarly, 44 percent of the sampled farmers reported to have borrowed from savings and credit cooperatives in the September 2025 survey compared to 19 percent in the July 2025 survey,” said the CBK.
Bank charges on loans have eased gradually in recent months, tracking actions by the CBK’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to lower the indicative lending rates.
The MPC lowered its indicative rate to 9.25 percent on October 7, 2025, from 9.5 percent, marking the eighth consecutive cut intended to lower borrowing costs and stimulate lending to businesses and households.
Data shows that the average commercial banks’ lending rates declined to 15.1 percent in September 2025 from 15.2 percent in August.
The CBK survey results show that farmers typically utilise credit to purchase farm inputs, with the proportion reporting remaining higher at 94 percent in September 2025.
The proportion that reported using agricultural loans to meet labour costs was slightly more than half at 53 percent in September 2025 and 59 percent in the July 2025 survey.
The CBK survey drew respondents from select wholesale and retail markets and select farms in key food basket regions, including Nairobi and its neighbouring counties such as Kiambu, Kajiado, and Machakos.
