Agricultural finance is expanding across Africa as banks, cooperatives, fintechs and development funders look for ways to reach farmers and the businesses around them. That growth exposes institutions to weaker documentation, concentrated crop risk and complex multi-party arrangements. Regulators, auditors and funders expect clear governance that shows who is accountable for each decision and how breaches are caught early.

Governance and Compliance in Agri-Finance and Value-Chain Lending is organised around the life of a loan. Participants start with institutional governance and policy, continue through customer due diligence, credit appraisal controls and contract structures with off-takers and suppliers, and then look at monitoring, collections, audit and reporting. Attention is given to financial crime risks, safeguarding of borrower data, treatment of vulnerable borrowers and the extra reporting that donor-backed credit lines and guarantee facilities demand.

The programme relies on practical case files drawn from grain, dairy, horticulture and export commodity chains. Participants test sample loan files for control gaps and finish by outlining a compliance calendar and monitoring plan for their own portfolio.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Define board and management responsibilities for governance of an agricultural loan portfolio.
• Draft credit policy provisions that reflect seasonality, crop risk and repayment sources.
• Carry out customer due diligence and beneficial ownership checks on farmers, groups and agribusinesses.
• Identify fraud, side-selling and conflict-of-interest risks in value-chain arrangements.
• Review tripartite, offtake and warehouse receipt structures for legal and control weaknesses.
• Design monitoring routines, covenant tracking and early warning reports.
• Prepare compliance and audit reports suitable for boards, regulators and funders.

The course is intended for people who approve, oversee or audit agricultural lending, including:

• Agribusiness relationship managers in commercial banks
• Credit officers and credit risk managers
• Compliance officers and money laundering reporting officers
• Internal auditors reviewing loan portfolios
• SACCO, cooperative and microfinance managers
• Board and credit committee members of financial institutions
• Programme officers managing credit guarantees or blended finance
• Fintech and mobile lending product managers serving farmers

By the close of the programme, participants will have:

• A governance map showing decision rights across the agricultural lending cycle.
• A customer due diligence checklist for smallholders, groups and agribusinesses.
• A control matrix covering fraud, side-selling and documentation risks.
• A review template for tripartite and warehouse receipt agreements.
• A sample compliance report layout for board and funder use.
• A compliance calendar tailored to their institution.

The programme concentrates on controls that participants can put to work in their own institutions. It uses:

• Facilitator-led explanations of each control area
• Loan file reviews from grain, dairy, horticulture and export chains
• Small-group red-flag hunts on anonymised documents
• Role-play of a credit committee and an audit exit meeting
• Drafting workshops for policy clauses and compliance reports

Vision Reach Global Consultancy issues a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion to participants who attend the full programme and submit their practical exercises.