Inspiration
I live in the northern part of Nigeria, where agriculture thrives. But it pains me when I see or hear that aid or loans provided by organizations are being cornered by the government, or that farmers receive only a little of what was meant for them. This affects agriculture and ruins the lives of farmers and everyone in the sector. These are people who are important to the way we function; they provide food. And I believe they are everywhere in Africa. Corrupt government is one thing we all have in common. If we can breach this gap, we can preach Bitcoin adoption. That is what inspired Satsfarm.
What it does
Satsfarm makes agricultural aid and support traceable from funder to farmer. A program operator issues naira-denominated grant or loan vouchers. A farmer views those vouchers in an Android app, scans a registered agro-dealer's invoice, and approves the payment themselves, so the farmer holds the approval power, not an intermediary. Loan vouchers also track what is owed, and repayments in grain, cash, or transfer update the balance and show up in the farmer's history. Bitcoin settles underneath on Lightning, so funds are traceable and hard to divert.
How we built it
Satsfarm has three parts:
1.Farmer app: a Flutter Android app. Farmers join with a single-use invite code or QR, view vouchers and loan history, and approve dealer payments. It supports English and Hausa, with account switching.
Program Desk: a React dashboard where the operator manages farmers, vouchers, repayments, dealers, and program-node funding.
Rust API: an Axum service with a SQLite demo ledger. It also runs the funder and dealer Lightning nodes (LDK) used in the payment demo, on Mutinynet, a Signet development network.
When a farmer approves a dealer invoice, the API checks the voucher balance and that the dealer is registered before paying. The demo uses a fixed rate of ₦5 per sat.
Challenges we ran into
Trust and adoption: Convincing farmers and funding bodies that vouchers aren't just another layer of bureaucracy.
Infrastructure: Limited connectivity and digital literacy in rural areas meant the design had to stay simple, with no wallets for farmers to manage and no sats to understand.
Designing around bad actors: Strict redemption rules and registered-dealer checks had to be built in from day one.
Lightning node sync: The funder and dealer nodes take time to sync, which made demoing harder.
Platform limits: The Linux Flutter build lacks native wallet sync and Lightning payment support, so the wallet and payment demo is Android-only.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Building a flow where the farmer approves the payment, putting control in their hands rather than an intermediary's.
Keeping the farmer experience simple, with a naira voucher and a scan, while Bitcoin settles underneath.
Supporting English and Hausa from the start, because adoption depends on meeting farmers in their language.
End-to-end demo: invite, voucher, invoice, farmer approval, Lightning settlement, and repayment tracking.
What we learned
We learned that the problem isn't a lack of funding. It's a lack of traceability. Restricted vouchers with farmer approval can close the misappropriation gap. We also learned that Bitcoin doesn't have to be complicated for end users: farmers never need to touch sats or understand the underlying technology. Bitcoin can settle underneath while the user experience stays simple and local.
What's next for Satsfarm
USSD access so feature phones can use it, not just Android smartphones
Offline support for low-connectivity rural areas
Independent verification of produce delivery, so repayment claims can be checked
Production authentication for the API and dashboard
A live exchange rate instead of the fixed ₦5 per sat demo rate
Pilot with a local farming cooperative in northern Nigeria, then scale across Africa, where aid leakage and corrupt intermediaries are a shared challenge
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