Scalable Data-Sharing Frameworks Supporting Financial Access for Smallholder Farmers

Across Asia and Africa, agribusinesses, off-takers, and input providers are investing heavily in building farmer networks. They collect detailed information on planting, yields, transactions, and repayments — data that could transform how farmers are financed. At the same time, financial institutions are under pressure to expand rural lending portfolios, capture new clients, and qualify for the fast-growing pool of development and climate finance.

Yet today, this opportunity is being missed. Data remains siloed within companies, often collected for compliance or operational purposes but not structured or verified in ways that banks can trust.

For lenders, this means onboarding farmers is expensive and risky. For businesses, it means carrying the burden of in-kind finance themselves, straining cash flow and limiting growth.

According to FAO, globally; fewer than 10% of smallholder farmers have access to formal credit, despite agribusinesses and financial institutions already holding the data that could change this.

This is where private-to-private data sharing models come in. By creating trusted flows of farmer data between agribusinesses and financial institutions, companies can reduce information asymmetry, strengthen risk assessments, and expand access to credit. The result is twofold: direct financing that enables farmers to access loans tailored to their production cycles, and indirect financing that allows businesses to deliver inputs and services more effectively, backed by external capital rather than their own balance sheets.

The missed opportunity is not just for farmers — it is for the companies and financial institutions themselves. With better data sharing, agribusinesses can stabilize supply chains, improve farmer loyalty, and unlock new financing partnerships. Banks and FIs can expand lending portfolios, capture new revenue streams, and improve compliance with emerging DFI and climate finance requirements.

About the Programme

 Scalable Data-Sharing Frameworks Supporting Financial Access for Small-holder Farmers Project was launched by IDH and the Rabo Foundation, this two-year program (2025-2026) is designed to build the evidence base and demonstrate scalable models of private-to-private data sharing.

At its core, the programme is guided by a central research question:

How can sustainable, value-generating private-to-private data sharing models be built and scaled to improve farmers’ access to credit — while creating tangible business value for agribusinesses and financial institutions?

To answer this, the programme will:

• Identify and analyse existing use cases where private actors are already sharing farmer data to unlock finance.
• Pilot innovative approaches in two countries,testing how data can be standardised, trusted, and applied at scale.
• Document concrete business cases showing how agribusinesses, off-takers, and financial institutions benefit from sharing data.
• Translate lessons into practical resources to inspire adoption across the sector.

Engaged Research Project Featuring Experts in Industry 

The programme is steered both by a formal Steering Committee and by direct engagement with the private sector. Through close dialogue with agribusinesses, agri-tech firms, and financial institutions, we are mapping the intricacies of data sharing: the prerequisites for success, the opportunities and challenges, and the impacts that can shape how other actors approach data sharing. These insights will help ensure that what we produce is not theoretical but grounded in the realities of business and finance.

The Steering Committee brings together expertise from finance, agribusiness, and global institutions, with members including:

• Albert Boogaard – Rabo Partnerships
• Carolijn Gommans – IDH
• Jasmer Dhingra – IDH
• Song Bae Lee – Sector expert
• Shreejit Borthakur – World Economic Forum 

What You Can Expect Here

This platform will host all programme outputs, designed for businesses, financial institutions, and sector partners looking to learn, adapt, and scale.

Over the coming months, you will find:

• Case study articles highlighting businesses, pilots, and conferences.
• A six-episode podcast series featuring expert voices from finance and agribusiness.
• Two webinars convening stakeholders to share lessons and tool
• Showcases & Insights: Data Sharing Pathways to Smallholder Finance documents and highlights real-world company cases of best practice for data-sharing that's helping unlock finance for famers and optimizing agility, productivity and revenue for companies.
• A Handbook and Toolkit (December 2026), providing practical guidance for companies and financial institutions ready to act.

Join Us

This programme aims to generate a proof of concept and business case that demonstrates why private-to-private data sharing matters for the future of agricultural finance.

By following this journey, you will gain early access to pioneering use cases, connect with leading voices in finance and agribusiness, and access practical tools to bring data sharing into your own operations.  

Together, we can turn today’s fragmented farmer data into tomorrow’s financing solutions — building stronger businesses, stronger financial institutions, and stronger opportunities for farmers