Philippines – CoCoPal Program

Working to improve the capacity and food security of 25,000 smallholder farmers

In 2009, ACDI/VOCA was awarded a $5.4 million project by USDA. ACDI/VOCA monetized 13,200 MT of soybean meal and will use the proceeds over a 3-year period to improve the capacity of smallholder farmers in targeted Mindanao provinces. The program will help the farmers produce food and income sustainably and thereby increase food security for their households.

CoCoPal is named after cocoa, coconut and the Palayamanan concept of rice-based diversified farming. Palay means rice and Kayamanan is wealth, to form Palayamanan. The CoCoPal project will improve the income and food security of 25,000 farmers including a total of 125,000 indirect beneficiaries. Through its six project components, the CoCoPal project will also improve post-harvest processing facilities, practices and standards for cocoa, coconut and rice production. The six components are:

1. Establish and manage 75 Village Technology and Extension Farms (VTEFs) of the CoCoPalintegrated farming system
2. Train and provide extension services to 25,000 farmers in CoCoPal production and processing practices, linked to a value chain approach
3. Establish and rehabilitate150 Post-harvest facilitates to enhance accessibility to improved technologies and productivity of processed products
4. Create and support 300 cocoa, coconut, rice planting materials businesses to ensure good genetic material is available to farmers for productivity, as well as to create profitable and sustainable businesses
5. Establish 300 Organic Inputs Facilities to increase the availability and reduce the cost of organic fertilizers and bio-pesticides for Palayamanan farming systems
6. Form 250 Agro-enterprise Clusters for enhanced value chain integration and participation by smallholder farmers and micro-enterprises.

ACDI/VOCA works with four partners across the three value chains, Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines (CocoaPHIL), LandCare Philippines Foundation, Philippine Association of Small Coconut Farmers Organizations (PASCFO) and Philippine Rice Research Institutes (PHILRICE). These partners collaborate with local government units (LGUs), Non –government organizations (NGOs), Cooperatives, Farmers associations, academe, and other local partners in the CoCoPal targeted areas.

The project targets eight provinces and two large cities from Region 9 (Western Mindanao) and Region 11 (Southern Mindanao), namely Zamboanga Del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga Del Sur, Zamboanga City, Basilan, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao City and Compostela Valley. There are 114 municipalities and 583 barangays (villages) targeted within these provinces and cities.

After three years, it is hoped that the developed agro-enterprise clusters for enhanced value chains of cacao, coconuts and palay (rice) have helped smallholder farmers to increase their production and processing of products through adoption of improved technologies and accessibility to sources of quality planting materials, affordable organic inputs, processing centers and market.

To learn more about ACDI/VOCA’s work in cocoa, click here.

For more information contact Nic Richards at nrichards@acdivoca.org.ph or Alba Bautista at abautista@acdivoca.org.

Updated: 5/12

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