Root Capital
Building the resilience of cocoa businesses to accelerate sustainable development in Peru
Our Foundation is backing an initiative that provides catalytic finance and tailored advisory services to strengthen agricultural
enterprises and bring climate-resilient growth to rural communities.
The challenge
Peru is the world’s second largest producer of organic cocoa, with the sector providing a living for some 50,000 smallholder farmers. Climate change and El Niño weather patterns threaten farmers’ economic survival by causing torrential rains, landslides and floods that destroy crops, erode soil and degrade rural infrastructure. Many of these farmers and the cooperatives to which they belong do not have access to the training and financial services that could help them to grow their business and make it more resilient.
The solution
Root Capital provides cocoa cooperatives with holistic services including credit, training in business management, and tailor-made climate adaptation plans that also benefit their members. The organisation’s climate resilience advisory services help businesses and smallholder cocoa producers to design and implement steps to strengthen their businesses against climate
impacts.
Partnership impact
With support from the Trafigura Foundation, Root Capital will provide catalytic finance and targeted advisory services to more cocoa cooperatives to grow their business, make it more climate resilient, and sustainably improve the incomes and livelihoods of thousands of producers and their family members.
The partnership aims to:
- Provide 15 cocoa enterprises with business management advisory services
- Make loans to 5 early-stage cocoa enterprises
- Enable 4,000 producers to generate more income
Three-year grant (2022-2024)
