Our Work
Real-world engagements and published research where business strategy and social impact converge.
Published Research
Rogers MacJohn has published multiple research studies, several of which are in the public domain.
Enabling Smallholder-Based Agricultural Transformation
For companies seeking to increase their impact on alleviating rural poverty amongst smallholder farmers in their supply chains, this paper identifies lessons from places where major gains in farmer productivity and income have been achieved at scale.
Link to ReportBuilding Thriving Rural Communities and More Sustainable, Resilient Agricultural Supply Chains
The Disrupting Commodities Project seeks to catalyze thriving rural communities and sustainable, resilient agricultural supply chains. This report summarizes the insights that have come out of the Project so far.
Link to ReportSustainable Procurement Insights: S&D's Cost-Plus Coffee Pricing Model
This paper describes an equitable trading practice currently being piloted by S&D Coffee and Tea in Colombia and elsewhere to raise farmer incomes beyond the poverty line to the living income level.
Link to ReportBackground Paper: Disrupting Commodities
Our research suggests that the time is right for a conversation about how global businesses can disrupt the way smallholder-produced commodities are bought and sold — creating new models that deliver value from field to consumer.
Link to ReportEngagement Highlights
Selected examples from our team's collective track record across industry, philanthropy, and development.
Corporate Procurement Strategy
In collaboration with 25 Chief Procurement Officers at a range of global food companies, RMJ identified procurement practices exacerbating smallholder poverty and emerging alternative models. We have established household economic models and living income benchmarks per Anker methodology to help clients design more sustainable and impactful sourcing strategies.
Enabling Smallholder-Based Agricultural Transformation
RMJ published a paper on the historical successes and failures countries have had in moving large numbers of smallholder farmers out of poverty at scale. This work synthesized the common denominators underpinning those successes, distilled the key learnings, and outlined the roles governments, development agencies and businesses have played.
Rural Economic Opportunity and Risk Assessments
RMJ undertakes value chain analyses to identify and quantify the P/L, cash flow, key risks, constraints, and opportunities facing farmers. We developed a valuation tool to help CFOs identify the value and risks to corporate sustainability investments. RMJ has also worked with a multinational corporate client to develop a resilience strategy for vanilla farmers in extreme poverty in Madagascar and to help coconut farmers transition to off-farm jobs in the Philippines.
ECOWAS Rice Observatory
On behalf of the Gates Foundation and GIZ, RMJ conducted market and value chain analyses across six West African countries to develop the business case and governance structure for an ECOWAS Rice Observatory to help coordinate $4 billion of disparate investments into the rice sector from the World Bank and others. The aim of the Observatory is to support the West African rice industry to substitute $4.5 billion/year of rice imports into the region, reduce poverty amongst farmers, and drive rural economic growth.
COMESA-EAC Horticulture Accelerator
On behalf of the Gates Foundation and the COMESA General Secretary, RMJ developed a strategy to identify and alleviate the key constraints to growing the East African horticulture industry. This included developing both a regional multi-stakeholder platform in addition to national multi-stakeholder platforms in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda consisting of private sector, government institutions, and civil society. A governance structure, operating guidelines, and budget were developed for a Secretariat.
Sustainable Rice Platform Strategy
Rogers MacJohn worked with the global rice industry, IRRI, and UNEP to project market demand for rice, outline potential impact, and prioritize country focus and key performance metrics. We also helped to establish the new governance structure and clarify the role of the SRP vs. other international rice bodies.
Ethiopia Oilseed and Animal Feed Flagship Program
RMJ developed a $700m vegetable oil import substitution strategy for the Ethiopian government. We assessed market trends, price differentials, processing and farmer economics as well as key infrastructure and policy constraints to develop a production and processing strategy for oilseeds. We also developed the governance and management structure of a multistakeholder platform comprised of key private and public sector actors, research, and financial institutions to oversee the implementation of the program.
Myanmar Agribusiness Development Strategy
On behalf of the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), our firm assessed the market demand, supply constraints, and economic opportunities for farmers and SMEs in the Myanmar rice and pulse value chains allowing ACIAR and DFAT to prioritize funding for programs having greatest impact.
Smallholder Debt & TA Facility Development
On behalf of a set of major donors, we assessed the various impact investment funds and their ability to deliver impact to small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We outlined a new facility linked more tightly with value chain development programs, targeting $100k - $1m investment size to stimulate SME growth.
Alignment of Stakeholder Interests
RMJ has conducted numerous workshops across and within public, private, and civil society clients to align interests anchored in detailed qualitative and quantitative market research and economic analyses. Outputs include a shared vision, strategy, governance structure, defined roles, KPIs, timeline, budget, and commitments.
African Cashew Initiative
An eight-year, $70M partnership with multinational corporations and local processors to catalyze the growth of the cashew industry across five African countries. Impact to date has been the doubling of incomes for 430,000 households and the creation of over 5,000 processing jobs, mostly for women.
Awarded the 2015 OECD DAC prize for "taking development innovation to scale".
Watch on YouTubeOur Clients
Who We Work With
Rogers MacJohn works with a diversity of public, social, and private sector clients — from global foundations and development agencies to leading food companies and academic institutions.
