AgriCredit-360: Blockchain-Enabled Intelligent Loan Management Scheme for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Farmers often struggle to access timely and fair credit due to inefficiencies, limited transparency, and inadequate risk assessment in traditional loan systems. This paper presents AgriCredit-360, a blockchain-enabled intelligent loan management scheme designed to improve financial inclusion and promote sustainable agriculture. Leveraging Ethereum's decentralized architecture alongside the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), the proposed framework ensures secure, transparent, and tamperproof loan records while enabling cost-efficient off-chain storage of large agricultural datasets such as satellite imagery, IoT sensor readings, climate trends, and yield forecasts. AI-driven analytics assess farmers' creditworthiness using multi-source data, integrating sustainability metrics to incentivize eco-friendly farming practices. Ethereum-based smart contracts automate loan approval, disbursement, repayment tracking, subsidy allocation, and insurance claim settlement, significantly reducing operational delays, administrative costs, and fraud risks. The hybrid blockchain-IPFS design enhances scalability, supports multi-stakeholder interoperability, and preserves data integrity through cryptographic hashing. By combining blockchain security, decentralized storage, AI-powered decision-making, and sustainability-oriented credit policies, AgriCredit-360 delivers an efficient, transparent, and farmer-centric solution.