Nairobi, Aug. 3 -- Farmers overtook property developers and traders in loan defaults in the first year of Covid-19 shutdowns and restrictions, highlighting the struggle players in the key agricultural sector endured in sustaining the market for fresh produce.
About 23.67 percent of outstanding Sh109 billion loans advanced to the sector were not being serviced as of the end of March compared to 16.03 percent a year earlier, making it the sector with the highest non-performing loans (NPL) ratio.
Agriculture's NPL ratio - the amount defaulted over outstanding loan portfolio to the sector - marginally zoomed past building and construction (23.52 percent) and trade (19.14 percent) sectors, latest Central Bank of Kenya industry statistics shows...