BLOCKCHAIN-BASED INFORMATION SECURITY FRAMEWORK FOR INCENTIVE-BASED AGRICULTURAL LENDING SYSTEMS IN NIGERIA

The Nigerian agricultural financing ecosystem, particularly incentive-based risk-sharing schemes such as the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), faces persistent challenges related to data integrity, transparency, and trust among stakeholders. Centralized information systems expose sensitive financial and operational data to risks including unauthorized modification, fraud, lack of auditability, and single points of failure. This study proposes a blockchain-based information security framework designed to enhance transparency, integrity, and accountability in incentive-driven agricultural lending systems. The framework leverages distributed ledger technology, cryptographic hashing, consensus mechanisms, and permissioned access control to ensure tamper-resistant record keeping and secure transaction validation. A conceptual system architecture is developed to demonstrate how lending data, incentives, and risk-sharing records can be securely managed in a decentralized environment. The proposed approach improves trust among financial institutions, regulators, and agricultural stakeholders while reducing fraud, operational inefficiencies, and information asymmetry.