2016-2025

Growing Rural Prosperity for Small-Scale Farmers

2016-2025

Root Capital

Root Capital is a non-profit lender that provides financing and capacity building for agricultural small and medium-sized businesses and cooperatives across Africa, Latin America, and Indonesia. We’ve been funding Root Capital in Peru since 2016. With our support, Root Capital has so far provided critical assistance to 118 rural agricultural businesses and positively impacted nearly 50,000 smallholder farmers and their families.

rootcapital.org

CHALLENGE

Globally, more than 2.5 billion people rely on small-scale farming for their livelihoods, including two million families in Peru who make their livings on farms of less than 10 hectares. With limited resources, little land to cultivate and poor access to markets, they operate on razor-thin margins and are the first to be impacted by climate shocks.

ACTION

Root Capital provides loans to agricultural enterprises that are too big for microfinance, but too small and remote to secure credit from conventional banks. This financing comes with capacity building and training, supported by critical market connections.

With tailored support, these agricultural enterprises and cooperatives can prosper. When they grow and thrive, the hundreds of smallholder farmers that produce for them become more prosperous and resistant to shocks. That’s because these enterprises connect farmers to international markets, where their crops fetch a better price. They help farmers achieve higher and more stable incomes. They also assist farmers with sustainable farm practices that build climate resilience.

Enterprises that borrow from Root Capital over multiple years grow at an average rate of 20-25% per year. This growth enables them to invest in sustainable production methods and improve livelihoods for more farmers.

In Peru, over the next two years, Root Capital aims to provide critical assistance to 85 rural agricultural businesses, which will positively impact an estimated 38,000 smallholder farmers and their families by 2025.

IMPACT

Since 1999, Root Capital has lent $1.85 billion to over 760 enterprises, reaching 2.4 million agricultural businesses’ employees and smallholder farmers, and provided training to more than 1, 800 businesses.

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