Our Approach
Much of agricultural development delivers activity without durable system performance, leaving farmers exposed once project subsidies and support end. Roots of Peace is designed to address this structural failure.
In many developing countries, agriculture remains the primary source of employment and the foundation of economic activity. Roots of Peace approaches agricultural development as integrated market systems that must perform reliably over time, not as isolated projects.
Our primary measure of success is whether farmers earn stable, predictable income year after year. We assess performance at the farm level and across key system functions to understand how the agricultural system performs as a whole. When scale and context allow, these income gains contribute to broader economic indicators such as employment and GDP, but our design discipline always begins with durable farm income.
Roots of Peace works in fragile and transition contexts where agricultural potential is high but system performance remains constrained. Our objective is sustained improvement in household income that continues after we exit because the system itself holds.
How We Build Agricultural Systems That Last
We approach agriculture as a system, not a collection of interventions. Performance depends on alignment across:
soil and water conditions
production choices
market demand
capital and services
institutional capacity
When these elements are introduced independently or out of sequence, gains erode. When they are aligned, system performance holds under real operating conditions.
Our work follows a consistent sequence. While implementation adapts to context, the sequence of these steps governs how income growth, reliability, and durability are achieved.
Step 1: Identify the Binding Constraint
We begin by diagnosing what limits income reliability in practice. Every context is different. Constraints may include degraded soil, unreliable water, fragmented markets, missing working capital, weak services, or gaps in institutional capacity.
Diagnosis focuses on understanding which system interactions produce income instability and identifying where targeted interventions can most effectively improve reliability.
Production decisions are grounded in market demand and net income potential, not yield alone. Soil health and water availability are treated as binding economic conditions, not secondary considerations.
Step 2: Align and Sequence System Functions
Agricultural systems underperform when inputs, services, finance, and markets are introduced independently or out of sequence. We ensure that critical elements are in place when farmers and market actors must decide to invest, not after.
We use multiple levers including capital deployment, incentive structures, and technical assistance mechanisms to support both income growth and income reliability.
In practice, this typically includes confirming buyer demand and farmer net income potential before supporting any value chain, securing input supply before planting, or aligning services, working capital, and infrastructure before production scales. Farmers invest when the conditions for success are visible, not promised.
Implementation adjusts to real behavior. Early assumptions are tested against observed incentives and outcomes. When behavior diverges from expectations, system design and sequencing are adjusted in real time. Learning is embedded in implementation rather than deferred to evaluation. This allows system performance to improve while it is being built, rather than after gains have already eroded.
Step 3: Deploy Capital to Remove Barriers
Capital is deployed selectively to remove specific barriers that prevent systems from functioning.
Capital is deployed to address specific barriers such as:
transition risk during crop or production system conversion
missing working capital
post-harvest loss
infrastructure bottlenecks
We deploy capital to remove barriers and build necessary capabilities, pairing it with training and services where needed to enable adoption and sustained performance.
These interventions are not designed to eliminate risk, but to reduce it to the point where farmer and market actor investment becomes both locally credible and investment-ready. Success requires farmers and market actors to commit their own resources, applying their local expertise while benefiting from improved market alignment and strengthened system conditions.
As performance stabilizes and returns become predictable, capital steps back and market actors assume these functions without ongoing subsidy.
Step 4: Transfer System Leadership to Local Institutions
Roots of Peace does not operate farms or markets directly. We work through farmers, producer organizations, agribusinesses, traders, and other capable local actors positioned to sustain performance over time.
As these actors demonstrate reliability, they take on greater responsibility for coordination and delivery. Our role is to strengthen capacity and align incentives until system performance can be maintained without external coordination.
Step 5: Exit When Performance Holds
Exit decisions are based on evidence that:
income generation remains viable across multiple harvests under normal market variability
core system functions, such as coordination, price discovery, quality enforcement, and risk management, operate without ongoing external coordination
incentives and risks are sufficiently aligned for market actors to continue investing and adapting without subsidy
We remain engaged until these conditions are met. We exit when they are.
How We Adapt in Practice
Early assumptions are tested against observed incentives and outcomes. When behavior diverges from expectations, system design and sequencing are adjusted in real time.
Learning is embedded in implementation rather than deferred to evaluation. This allows system performance to improve while it is being built, rather than after gains have already eroded.
Environmental Conditions as Economic Conditions
Soil health, water management, and ecological limits directly determine productivity, risk, and income stability. These conditions are addressed from the outset because they determine whether gains can be sustained.
Sustainable practices are pursued because they stabilize performance over time, not because they satisfy external standards.
What Remains Constant, What Adapts
Across contexts, the outcome remains constant: sustained improvement in household income that continues after we exit. Political regimes may change. Crops may change. Partners may change. When systems function, households continue to earn long after projects end.
What varies: crops, partners, tools, and sequencing.
What endures: the discipline of identifying constraints, aligning system functions, removing barriers to investment, and exiting when performance holds.