Root Capital announced the launch of the’ Partnership for Sustainable Supply Chains’ in collaboration with Keurig Dr Pepper, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ezrah Charitable Trust.
The global Covid pandemic has made agricultural farmers face immense challenges , whose crops are relied on by the food and beverage industries.
ABOUT ROOT CAPITAL
Root Capital invests in the growth of agricultural enterprises which purchase crops such as coffee, cocoa, or grains from smallholder farmers.
They supply these businesses with resources such as; access to capital, trade and technical partners, financial training and conservation practices.
With their aid to growth, they believe these businesses will become engines of impact that can raise incomes, create jobs, empower women and young people, sustain peace, and preserve vulnerable ecosystems.
To date, they’ve distributed $1.5 billion to improve the lives of nine million people in farming communities across the globe.
THE PARTNERSHIP
The Partnership will provide financial support and advisory services to agricultural businesses, including coffee, representing 150,000 farmers in 12 countries across Africa, Latin America and Indonesia, helping them to withstand the current pandemic, and deepening resilience in rural communities for the future.
Willy Foote, Founder and CEO of Root Capital said,
With the onset of COVID-19, the ability of small and growing businesses in the agriculture sector to provide critical employment, continued income generation, protection of vulnerable ecosystems and essential services to rural communities has never been more vital.
From Peru to the Democratic Republic of Congo, these enterprises are under enormous strain. Yet, with support, they have met the challenge head-on—not only maintaining their business operations, but also protecting both the lives and livelihoods of their farmers and employees.
Over the next three years, the Partnership will focus on helping smallholder farm businesses withstand the immediate COVID-19 crisis, recover in the medium-term and re-imagine their strategies for growth and success in the long-term “new normal.”
The Partnership will expand upon existing COVID-19 response efforts to strengthen smallholder farmer resilience through:
- tailored advisory services that respond to the most urgent challenges of smallholder farm businesses via remote service delivery
- small grants to address cash flow constraints and meet the emergency needs of rural communities
- flexible credit via patient loan terms, interest rate relief and debt forgiveness for enterprises most at risk.
The ‘Partnership for Sustainable Supply Chains’ will be complemented by a $35 million loan guarantee from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). This improves Root Capital’s lending capacity by mitigating the perceived risk associated with lending to these agricultural businesses.
The’ Partnership for Sustainable Supply Chain’s builds on the progress and lessons learned from the ‘Partnership for Sustainable Coffee’, a three-year collaboration in which Keurig Dr Pepper, Root Capital and USAID reached 183 farmer businesses through Root Capital’s lending and advisory services, supporting sustainable livelihoods for 330,000 smallholder coffee farmers and their families.
These projects have contributed to Keurig Dr Pepper’s achievement of its goal to engage one million people in the company’s supply chain to significantly improve their lives by the end of 2020.
Monique Oxender, Chief Sustainability Officer for Keurig Dr Pepper said,
By leveraging our longstanding partnership with Root Capital, we were able to quickly pivot to support those in our supply chain most vulnerable to the threats of COVID-19 and ongoing challenges such as climate change and food insecurity.
Our contribution to the Partnership for Sustainable Supply Chains is an extension of our deep-rooted commitment to partnering with our coffee growing communities to improve livelihoods and safeguard the future of coffee and will help to support business continuity and resiliency for our coffee suppliers in countries across Latin America, Africa and Indonesia.
