In this GCFSI innovation grant project, the goal is to empower smallholder coconut farmers in the Philippines by replicating a solution tested in Uganda and Colombia that leverages field officers and mobile tools to help monitor adopted practices and farm investments required to increase productivity.

Press

How to milk the coconut boom? Philippine farmers check their phones, May 2017, Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Project Update

Innovation in the Philippines: Coconut farmers receive valuable warnings via text, Feb. 2017, MSU International Studies & Programs.

Project Team: Ana Herrera and Leo Tobias, Grameen Foundation

In the Philippines, the poorest smallholder farmers are coconut farmers who earn about $2/day, despite a growing global demand for coconut products. Low productivity and low market prices are the main drivers of this problem.

To address this, Grameen Foundation is replicating a solution tested in Uganda and Colombia that leverages field officers and mobile tools to help monitor adopted practices and farm investments required to increase productivity.

It will also provide farmers with product standards and certification practices that will enable them to sell directly to buyers. The ultimate goal is to empower smallholder coconut farmers in the Philippines to become productive participants in the global agricultural food system.