In February 2026, the Central Bank of Kenya held its benchmark Central Bank Rate at 8.75% following ten consecutive rate cuts since August 2024. The decision signals confidence in Kenya’s economy, inflation remains anchored at 4.3–4.4%, well below the 5% midpoint target, and aims to stimulate private sector credit growth. For agriculture, this is encouraging news.
But numbers can deceive. While the CBK reports steady credit growth, the lived reality for cereal farmers remains frustratingly constrained. Access to seasonal credit remains locked behind collateral requirements that smallholder farmers struggle to meet.
3.2%
Agriculture share
of total bank credit
(vs. 33% of GDP)
4.3%
Inflation rate
March 2026
(CBK target: 5%)
33%
Agriculture’s share
of Kenya’s GDP
2025
The mismatch is stark. Agricultural lending accounts for only 3.2% of total bank credit, a ratio that hasn’t improved meaningfully despite rate cuts. For the farmer in Uasin Gishu seeking a KES 50,000 seasonal loan for seed and fertilizer, the process remains prohibitive: guarantors, multiple forms of collateral, title deeds, endless documentation.
CGA welcomes the CBK’s acknowledgment that value-chain finance models, linking input suppliers, off-takers, and farmers through structured agreements that reduce lender risk, hold promise. We have been piloting exactly this approach through our partnerships, and early results are encouraging. When farmers are knitted into value chains with clear input costs and output buyers, credit flows more readily and at better terms.
Our call to the CBK and government: scale these models. The rate cuts are helpful. But structural barriers,e.g. poor credit histories, informal land tenure, lack of collateral, require policy innovation, not just lower interest rates.