More than 150 maize seed farmers gathered in Kitale last week for a forum that put financing, rather than just farming, at the centre of the conversation – a sign of how seriously Kenya’s banking sector is taking agriculture as a commercial frontier.
NCBA Bank, in partnership with Kenya Seed Company, hosted the event under the theme “Financing the 2026 Planting Season: Productivity and Market Linkages”, bringing together smallholder and large-scale farmers, agribusiness traders and industry specialists for direct engagement with bank officials and financial advisors.
The timing was deliberate. The long rains planting season is approaching, and for many farmers in Trans Nzoia County, access to affordable credit at the right moment in the agricultural cycle is the difference between a productive season and a missed one.
Trans Nzoia sits at the heart of Kenya’s grain belt, with maize production in the area valued at more than KSh 23 billion annually. Despite that scale, access to structured financing remains one of the sector’s most persistent gaps – particularly for smallholders who often lack the formal documentation traditional lenders require.
NCBA’s Director of Commercial and SME Banking, Robert Kiboti, framed the bank’s involvement as ecosystem-building rather than a simple lending push. “Our approach goes beyond financing. We are building ecosystems that connect farmers to inputs, technical expertise and reliable markets,” he said, adding that the Kenya Seed Company partnership creates “structured solutions that enable farmers to access timely financing, improve productivity and operate more sustainably within organised value chains.”
The bank’s agricultural offering in the region spans several products — working capital for agri-SMEs, asset finance for farm equipment in partnership with Inchcape, beef-fattening programme financing for livestock farmers, and trade finance instruments for exporters entering regional markets.
Nicholas Sang, Production Manager at Kenya Seed Company, pointed to financing access as the bottleneck holding back the sector. “Access to affordable and timely financing remains one of the biggest challenges facing seed growers. Our partnership with NCBA is helping bridge this gap,” he said.
With the 2026 planting season now on the horizon, the Kitale forum signals that banks are increasingly willing to travel to where the farmers are — rather than waiting for them to come to the branch.
