Mountain Lion Agriculture
Status update — February 20, 2025
Mountain Lion Agriculture’s loans with Kiva have ended or defaulted, and this partnership is now closed. For the last 2 years, Kiva has been working with Mountain Lion Agriculture to try and recover the remaining outstanding amounts due to Kiva lenders. Kiva’s present assessment is that this lending partner is unlikely to make any further payments, and thus the remaining $179,835.08 in outstanding amounts due to Kiva lenders has been defaulted. If Kiva is able to recover any additional funds from MLA, they will be applied to lenders' accounts on a pro-rata basis.
Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.
Partner description:
Mountain Lion Agriculture is a social enterprise working to help smallholder farmers in Sierra Leone grow and succeed. The organization helps these farmers out of cycles of subsistence-only farming by supporting them during production and then buying their raw rice at a fair price.
Mountain Lion Agriculture’s business model is based on 3 key pillars: high quality rice-milling, a loyalty program for farmers and building relationships in the community. This model enhances the value chain for smallholder farmers by offering input supplies, 0% interest in-kind seed loans, free training for suppliers, machine hire services and a 250 acre model farm used to educate farmers.
A unique lending approach:
Mountain Lion Agriculture provides 0% interest loans to contract farmers in the form of quality seeds at the beginning of planting season. In order to guarantee good harvest, Mountain Lion Agriculture also provides an option of machine leasing services to these farmers for ploughing, farrowing and harvesting at an extra fee that can either be paid upfront or recovered from the harvest. The loans are usually payable in 6 months based on the rice-growing cycle. During harvest season, Mountain Lion Agriculture provides full transportation of paddy rice from the farms to their milling factory at no cost.
Repayment Performance on Kiva
| This Lending Partner | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Start Date On Kiva | Jan 9, 2017 | Oct 12, 2005 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Loans | $2,379,675 | $2,082,675,415 | |
| Amount of raised Inactive loans | $0 | $820,250 | |
| Number of raised Inactive loans | 0 | 271 | |
| Amount of Paying Back Loans | $0 | $150,707,570 | |
| Number of Paying Back Loans | 0 | 180,518 | |
| Amount of Ended Loans | $2,379,675 | $1,883,307,535 | |
| Number of Ended Loans | 805 | 2,544,680 | |
| Delinquency Rate | 0.00% | 12.73% | |
| Amount in Arrears | $0 | $11,566,990 | |
| Outstanding Portfolio | $0 | $90,860,631 | |
| Number of Loans Delinquent | 0 | 40,813 | |
| Default Rate | 20.90% | 1.83% | |
| Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted | $497,335 | $34,455,658 | |
| Number of Ended Loans Defaulted | 162 | 91,722 | |
| Currency Exchange Loss Rate | 2.40% | 0.47% | |
| Amount of Currency Exchange Loss | $57,116 | $13,160,867 | |
| Refund Rate | 0.26% | 0.54% | |
| Amount of Refunded Loans | $6,100 | $11,296,185 | |
| Number of Refunded Loans | 2 | 9,885 |
Loan Characteristics On Kiva
| This Lending Partner | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Loans to Women Borrowers | 100.00% | 78.57% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Loan Size | $259 | $393 | |
| Average Individual Loan Size | $0 | $584 | |
| Average Group Loan Size | $2,956 | $1,917 | |
| Average number of borrowers per group | 11.4 | 8.3 | |
| Average GDP per capita (PPP) in local country | $2,100 | $5,592 | |
| Average Loan Size / GDP per capita (PPP) | 12.32% | 7.04% | |
| Average Time to Fund a Loan | 2.8 days | 9.16 days | |
| Average Dollars Raised Per Day Per Loan | $92.30 | $42.93 | |
| Average Loan Term | 7.39 months | 11.5 months |
Journaling Performance on Kiva
| This Lending Partner | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Total Journals | 473 | 1,239,969 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journaling Rate | 57.39% | 41.84% | |
| Average Number of Comments Per Journal | 0.00 | 0.02 | |
| Average Number of Recommendations Per Journal | 0.00 | 0.54 |
Borrowing Cost Comparison (based on 2016 data)
| This Lending Partner | Median for MFI's in Country | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Average Cost to Borrower | N/A | 47.00% PY | 27.52% PY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profitability (return on assets) | -29.92% | -9.5% | -2.59% | |
| Average Loan Size (% of per capita income) | N/A | 28.00% | 0.00% |
Country Fast Facts
- Country:
- Sierra Leone
- Capital:
- Freetown
- Official Language:
- English (official), Mende, Temne, Krio
- Population:
- 5,743,725
- Avg Annual Income:
- $2,100
- Labor Force:
- N/A
- Population Below Poverty Line:
- 52.90%
- Literacy Rate:
- 48.10%
- Infant Mortality Rate (per 1000):
- 73.29 deaths
- Life Expectancy:
- 81.74 years