Access to Finance

When small and growing agricultural enterprises can access affordable financing, they have a larger impact on rural communities.


Financing catalyzes enterprise growth, which results in better incomes, services, and other support for farming families. Over more than 20 years, Root Capital has loaned $1.85 billion to agricultural enterprises worldwide, proving that these under-served businesses are bankableand that access to finance can have a ripple effect in rural communities.

The Challenge

Too many small and growing agricultural enterprises are stuck in the “missing middle”considered too big for microfinance and too small and risky for commercial banks. Without access to credit, cooperatives and other businesses are incredibly vulnerable to shocks, from COVID-19 to climate disaster.

But businesses with reliable financingtailored to their unique needs and harvest cyclesare resilient. When that financing is paired with training in critical business skills, the potential for growth and innovation is boundless.

Our Approach

Provide tailored, affordable financing to under-served agricultural enterprises.

Build enterprise capacity to access and manage credit.

Pilot blended financing models to reach early-stage, riskier businesses.

Demonstrate proven models and strengthen the agricultural finance sector.

Our Impact

$1.96B

91%

2.4M

disbursed to under-served agricultural enterprises.

of our 2020 loans filled credit needs unmet by commercial lenders.

farmers and employees reached


Stories of Impact


C.A.C. Pangoa: A Peruvian Coffee Cooperative Plans for Long-Term Success

Throughout Latin America, the coffee industry was crippled by the spread of coffee leaf rust—known as la roya—in 2013. Yields fell by as much as 80 percent. Some cooperatives failed. But at the foothills of the Andes mountains, C.A.C. Pangoa had developed the vision and tools to help farmers weather the storm. Pangoa first became a Root Capital client in…

The Village Nut Company: A Thriving Macadamia Processor Attracts New Talent in Kenya

Like many of Root Capital’s clients, The Village Nut Company operates on razor-thin margins. Credit is essential for the enterprise to be able to purchase macadamia nuts at a fair price and pay farmers on time. When we made our first loan to Village Nut in 2015—$450,000 in trade credit—the business was working with 6,000 producers and earning $1 million…

Sweetening the Deal for Cocoa and Honey Producers: Root Capital’s New Partnership with the Trafigura Foundation and Puma Energy Foundation

Honey and chocolate are made to satisfy the sweet tooth, but these treats aren’t always a sweet deal for the smallholder farmers that produce them.

To Rebuild After Conflict, Latin American Farmers Need An Alternative to the Drug Trade

In this month’s Root Capital Roundup, we explore how the illicit drug trade affects farming communities in three Latin American countries where we work… and how agricultural businesses offer people a peaceful alternative.

Unlocking Opportunity for Those Who Need It Most

Two billion. That’s the number of people in rural communities who are struggling to survive on less than $2 per day. 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. With few choices, they’re forced to sell their hard-earned crops at rock-bottom prices. But there’s a way out of this cycle of grinding poverty.

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…