The Loan Eligibility Report produces a bank-ready PDF estimating what a farm could borrow, so that a farmer arrives at the bank prepared rather than being asked for numbers he has not assembled.
The hardest part of agricultural credit for a smallholder is rarely the decision — it is the paperwork gap. A farmer is asked for land area in a unit he does not use, cropping pattern, expected yield and cost of cultivation, and has most of it in his head and none of it on paper.
This assembles it into a single document in the shape a lender expects, with the workings visible, so the conversation starts from a written position instead of from questions.
It is explicit that it is an estimate and not an offer. Only the bank decides, on its own rules, using its own scales, and a farmer walking in believing an app has approved him is worse off than one who walked in with nothing.
It pairs with the soil test report and the crop calendar, because a lender's real question is whether the plan is credible, and a documented soil position with a dated season plan answers that better than an assertion.
How to use Loan Eligibility Report
What it is. A bank-ready assessment of whether a farm can service a loan, built on the debt-service coverage ratio — net farm income divided by total annual debt payments — which is the metric a lender actually underwrites on.
When to open it. Before you walk into the bank, not after. The purpose is to know what the officer will work out, and to fix what can be fixed first.
Have ready.
Land size, in acres.
Annual revenue and annual expenses for the farm.
Existing annual debt payments, if any.
The loan amount you want and over how many years.
Optionally the interest rate. If you leave it blank, a curated regional benchmark is used and the report names which one.
Step by step.
Enter the country. It sets the currency and which interest-rate benchmark applies if you do not supply a rate.
Enter revenue and expenses for a normal year, not the best one. The whole report rests on these two numbers.
Enter your existing annual debt payments. Leaving them out inflates the ratio and produces a report that will not survive contact with a loan officer.
Enter the loan you want and the term.
Generate the report and read the DSCR and the band it falls into.
What it will not do. It is a planning estimate, not an offer, an approval or a bank's underwriting model. Only the lender decides, on criteria this cannot see — your repayment history, your security, the branch's own limits and policy of the day.
Every setting in Loan Eligibility Report, explained
Country
Sets the currency and, where no rate is given, selects the regional interest-rate benchmark. How to choose: Where the farm is and where the loan would be taken. If it is wrong: The payment figure is computed at the wrong country's rate, which changes the ratio and therefore the band.
Land size (acres)
Used for net income per acre, which is how lenders compare one farm against another. How to choose: The area actually farmed, not the area owned, if they differ. If it is wrong: Only the per-acre figure is affected. The DSCR itself does not depend on it.
Annual revenue
Everything the farm takes in, in a year. How to choose: A normal year. A loan officer will ask for three years of records, and a report built on your best season will be contradicted by them in front of you. If it is wrong: Every figure below it moves. Overstated revenue is the commonest way a farm walks in confident and is refused.
Annual expenses
Everything the farm spends, in a year. How to choose: Include the items that feel like they do not count — hired labour, transport, repairs, your own family's draw. If it leaves the farm's money, it is an expense. If it is wrong: Understated expenses inflate net income and produce a DSCR that no lender will reproduce.
Existing annual debt payments
What you already pay every year on other loans, before this one. How to choose: Total of every instalment, including the informal ones. If it is wrong: These are added to the new loan's payment to form the denominator of the ratio. Omitting them is the difference between a 'strong' report and the truth.
Requested loan amount and term (years)
The principal and how long you would repay it over. How to choose: Try several. The most useful thing this tool does is show how much a longer term or a smaller principal moves the ratio. If it is wrong: A longer term lowers the annual payment and raises the DSCR, while costing more interest overall. Both facts are true and the report only shows you the first.
Interest Rate % (optional)
The annual rate used to work out the loan payment. How to choose: Use the rate your bank actually quotes, if you have it. If you leave it blank, a curated regional benchmark is used and the report states which benchmark and that it is an estimate. If it is wrong: The annual payment moves with it, and so does the ratio. Between a subsidised rate and a market rate the band can change entirely.
A worked example
A farm with annual revenue of 1,200,000, expenses of 800,000 and no existing debt, asking for 1,000,000 over 7 years at 9%.
What goes in:
Revenue 1,200,000
Expenses 800,000
Existing debt payments 0
Loan 1,000,000
Term 7 years
Rate 9%
What comes out:
Net farm income = 1,200,000 − 800,000 = 400,000. Profit margin 33.3%.
Annual payment on the new loan ≈ 198,691.
Total annual debt obligation ≈ 198,691.
DSCR = 400,000 ÷ 198,691 ≈ 2.01 — 'strong'.
The same farm carrying 150,000 of existing debt payments has a DSCR of about 1.15 — 'marginal'.
That last line is the point of running it before the meeting. Nothing about the farm changed; the only difference is a loan the applicant had not mentioned, and the bank knows about it.
How to read what it gives you
DSCR at or above 1.5 is reported as strong, 1.25 to 1.5 as adequate, 1.0 to 1.25 as marginal, and below 1.0 as not recommended. A ratio of 1.0 means every rupee of net income goes to debt, leaving nothing for a bad year.
The bands are a transparent reference heuristic based on a standard, widely published underwriting metric. They are not any particular bank's model, and the report says so on its face.
Every number on the report is computed by a plain formula from what you entered. The written commentary is generated from those numbers afterwards and never introduces a figure of its own.
A field you leave blank produces a blank, not a guess. If revenue is missing, net income is missing, and the band reads 'insufficient data'.
What usually goes wrong
Leaving out existing debt. It goes into the denominator, and the bank will find it.
Using your best year's revenue. Lenders average three years.
Forgetting family drawings and hired labour in expenses.
Treating the band as a decision. It is an estimate of what a lender will compute, on the lender's own rules, using the lender's own scales. Walking in believing an app has approved you is worse than walking in with nothing.
Questions people ask about Loan Eligibility Report
What is a debt-service coverage ratio, in plain terms?
It is your net farm income divided by everything you must pay on debt in a year. At 2.0 you earn twice your repayments; at 1.0 every rupee you make goes to the loan. Lenders use it because it answers the only question that matters to them: if the year goes badly, is there anything left to pay us with?
What DSCR do I need to get a farm loan?
There is no universal figure, which is why this report gives bands rather than a verdict: 1.5 and above reads as strong, 1.25 to 1.5 as adequate, 1.0 to 1.25 as marginal, and below 1.0 as not recommended. Individual lenders set their own thresholds, and most want headroom above 1.0 rather than exactly 1.0.
How can I improve my ratio before I apply?
Three levers, in order of how much they move it: clear or consolidate existing debt, because those payments sit in the denominator; ask for a longer term, which lowers the annual payment; or ask for less. Increasing net income is the real answer and the slowest one.
Does this report guarantee a loan?
No, and it states that in the document itself. It estimates what a lender's standard metric will show. The bank decides on its own rules, its own rate and information about you that this has no access to.
What rate does it use if I leave the interest rate blank?
A curated regional benchmark for the country you entered, and the report names the benchmark and marks the figure as an estimate rather than presenting it as your rate. If your bank has quoted you a number, use that instead — it is the single input that most changes the answer.
Why does it never fill in a number I did not give it?
Because this is a document you will hand to a loan officer. A fabricated figure that gets found is worse than a blank one that gets asked about, so a missing input produces a visible gap and, where it matters, a band of 'insufficient data'.