Unlocking Opportunity
2.5 billion. That's the number of people in rural communities who depend on small-scale agriculture for their livelihoods.
Many of them are farming to feed the rest of the world, yet they aren’t getting enough to eat. Many live hundreds of miles from accessible markets, without the roads to reach them.
We build up vital agricultural businesses so they can provide higher, more stable incomes and expanded opportunities for those most in need.
We help businesses deliver higher, on time payments. This means farming families have a secure income stream that sees them through the growing season.
We equip employees with the skills to transform their business and community. Our trainings build their capacity to generate more lucrative harvests or manage small loans for farmers who wish to purchase new equipment or raise income through a side business.
By joining Root Capital, you fortify agricultural businesses that are fundamental to improving rural livelihoods. With your support, we can break the cycle of poverty for millions around the world.
Evaluating How Root Capital’s Client Businesses Impact Smallholder Livelihoods: Oil Palm in Ghana
This evaluation analyzes the extent to which affiliation with an agriculture business supported by Root Capital's lending and advisory services—in this case, an oil palm aggregator in Ghana called Serendipalm—improves the wellbeing of smallholder farmers. With insights directly from the business' supplying producers, the report highlights the impacts of affiliation with Serendipalm on farmer livelihoods, as well as lessons about the efficacy of Root Capital's engagement with the business.
RAOS: Training for a More Resilient Future in Honduras
In the face of adversity, this coffee cooperative is using credit and training from Root Capital to help its farmers thrive. It all started with 19 farmers and one contract. In 1997, following a long harvest season, farmers in the highlands of Honduras banded together to export just over 5,000 pounds of coffee to a group of buyers in Germany.
Triunfo Verde: Preserving Local Ecosystems Through Economic Opportunity in Mexico
This coffee cooperative in southern Mexico is showing that responsible agriculture can help preserve natural resources. The misty forests of southern Mexico’s El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve teem with life. This cloud forest—one of the most biodiverse in the world—serves as a critical habitat for thousands of species of migratory birds and endangered animals. But fragile ecosystems like El Triunfo are…
Kuapa Kokoo: Creating Sustainable Livelihoods for Cocoa Farmers in Ghana
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in Ghana depend on cocoa for their livelihoods. This business is making sure those farmers earn a decent living. One of the country’s largest exports, cocoa employs approximately 800,000 farming families across Ghana. “It’s the biggest vocation, the biggest source of livelihood in these communities,” says Nelson Adubofour, head of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union.
APROCAM: Building Opportunities for Indigenous Cocoa Producers in the Peruvian Amazon
For decades, the indigenous Awajún people of northern Peru have struggled to overcome systemic poverty, discrimination, and violence. Now, as members of the APROCAM cooperative, they’re attaining higher incomes—and a better quality of life. In Peru’s northern Amazon, Awajún farmers struggled for years to eke out a living growing cacao on the banks of the Utcubamba River. Completely reliant on…
Maya Ixil: Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Farmers in Guatemala
To combat entrenched poverty and violence, this coffee cooperative improved the incomes of indigenous farmers. With towering oaks, gushing waterfalls and long green stretches of bountiful coffee trees, Guatemala’s Maya Ixil region is a place of lyrical beauty. But listen closely enough, and the lyrics tell an entirely different story-a story of an ugly past marked by heartbreaking violence. In…
UCCEI: Doubling Incomes Under One Woman’s Leadership in Nicaragua
After tapping a brilliant woman leader to run the business, this coffee cooperative is thriving. Kenia Ubeda never thought she’d be running a coffee business. “I was an agronomist and a coffee farmer,” she says with a smile on her face. “I didn’t know the first thing about commercializing coffee.” But the community leaders who tapped Kenia to found and…
Serendipalm: Charting a New Path in an Industry Known for Environmental Degradation in Ghana
By sourcing palm oil from pre-existing areas of cultivated land, Serendipalm is defying industry norms of deforestation and contributing to sustainable development in rural Ghana.
Copiasuro: Maximizing Gains for Farmers and the Environment in Guatemala
In the rural highlands of Guatemala, this honey cooperative has found ways for both farmers and the planet to thrive. When Alvaro Almengor assumed the position of general manager at Copiasuro, a cooperative of honey producers spread across the southwestern highlands of Guatemala, its 22 members had little more than 113 hives and dreams for a better life. “They…
Maraba: Rebuilding Lives and Livelihoods After Genocide in Rwanda
After the Rwandan genocide devastated the country, smallholder coffee farmers banded together to help their community recover and prosper. When genocide broke out in Rwanda in early April 1994, coffee farmers around the small town of Maraba had just begun the harvest. Early pickings were underway, and the coffee cherries were in their final weeks of maturation. Three months later…