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Grameen Foundation in the Coconut Sector

Over a Decade of Inclusive Growth and Innovation in Davao, Philippines

Proven Track Record

Grameen Foundation (Grameen) is celebrating a decade of work in the Davao region of the Philippines, strengthening the coconut value chain through its deeply collaborative, convening power. As a global non-profit registered in the country, Grameen drives impact forward as an industry orchestrator and by taking on key implementation roles, involving deep partnerships with smallholder farmers, cooperatives, financial service providers as well as public and private sector stakeholders including the Philippines Coconut Authority, specific market actors and other civil society organizations.

Since 2015, Grameen has worked with over 51,000 smallholder coconut farmers, increasing their incomes, resilience and agency through a proven holistic approach that enables an inclusive, sustainable market system. Grameen has improved trust and collaboration between 12 cooperatives, and oil mills, provided technical assistance to enhance cooperatives’ business, operational, and financial skills, and has co-developed digital tools and designed new training curriculum to improve coconut-related productivity and trading.

Davao-based Coconut Supply Chain Challenges

The Philippines is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of coconuts, playing a crucial role in the global supply chain. In 2021, it was the largest exporter of coconut oil processed from copra - approximately 211,188 metric tons of crude coconut oil valued at around $986 million. Despite this, the country is not among the top exporters of raw copra. Paradoxically, it has become the third-largest importer of copra, purchasing $15.9 million worth in 2023. In 2024, the global market for copra was valued at approximately $1.8 billion and is projected to reach $2.56 billion by 2032. This dynamic presents an opportunity for the country to reduce reliance on imports, enhance domestic copra production and improve smallholder copra farmers’ livelihoods.

The Davao region is a key hub for copra production, contributing 14.4% to the national total coconut production in 2018. Smallholder copra farmers play a crucial role in the country's coconut economy, supplying a significant portion of copra used for the globally-demanded commodity - coconut oil. However, they face multiple challenges in meeting demand and increasing their incomes. Key structural issues such as - market and price volatility, dependence on limited market buyers, lack of infrastructure to strengthen copra quality (including drying facilities), logistics bottlenecks to aggregate and transport volumes, a lack financial access to increase assets and working capital, and climate-related risks - all hinder the productivity and livelihoods of smallholder coconut farmers and their agricultural cooperatives.

Partnerships and Interventions to Generate Impact

Starting in 2015, Grameen supported over 26,700 whole nut smallholder farmers supplying to Franklin Baker, deploying farmer-accessible, digitally-enabled early warning systems (for both pests/disease outbreaks as well as extreme weather events); and science-backed good agricultural practices such as mulching, pruning and salt-fertilization. The program outcomes showcased that coconut smallholder households could benefit from an integrated agricultural extension support ecosystem backed by accessible technology. This led Grameen to develop additional holistic programs for coconut smallholders, leveraging this lesson.

In line with developing a holistic set of programs for coconut smallholder farmers is the necessity to have a strengthened set of market actors and other channels who farmers interface with. In 2019, Grameen recruited and engaged 55 expert volunteers to strengthen the capacity of various coconut-related agricultural enterprises based in Davao, including coconut cooperatives and service providers working within the coconut subsector. The work centered on strengthening their strategies, and plans, improving their access to financial services and profitability.

Launched in 2022, Grameen pivoted to developing and transforming the copra (dried coconut meat) supply chain to a sustainable one in collaboration with Barry Callebaut. The continued efforts are supporting the livelihoods and resilience of 25,000 coconut smallholder farmers by enhancing their copra productivity, and quality. Grameen, in close collaboration with university researchers, developed a new-to-industry, farmer-centered curriculum focusing on copra quality and regenerative agricultural practices specifically for coconut tree productivity. As members of copra agricultural cooperatives, they pay annual fees to receive the services, products and market access. Grameen strengthens agricultural cooperatives’ operations through staff and specialized volunteer-based technical assistance, providing them upgrades to their systems and improving their bankability. An innovative, Grameen-led gain-sharing model between cooperatives and partner oil mills has fostered trust, aligned incentives across the chain, and improved logistical efficiency and member satisfaction. In parallel, Grameen developed an in-house traceability system to track copra from farm to mill. The system enhances transparency, signals market trust to the actors involved, and positions participating farmers and cooperatives for higher-value market access.

Through a partnership with Rabo Foundation that started in 2024, Grameen is working to improve the strategic positioning of smaller-sized copra cooperatives. By bringing together a cohort of similar cooperatives, and providing them with catalytic grant awards to procure working assets, Grameen is increasing business growth and farmer benefits. This, in tandem with Grameen’s copra capacity development plans (CCDPs), is supporting cooperatives to envision copra as a main copra product line, alongside their operational and market readiness. CCDPs are now an integral part of the cooperative’s business and operations plans, enabling cooperative leadership to identify copra-based requirements within the short and longer-term.

More specifically, Grameen orchestrated, together with partner oil mills and funding partners, the establishment of drying facilities for multiple cooperatives to improve the quality of their copra. In tandem with the working asset, extension agents and farmers were trained on improving copra quality, and on the best drying practices. The interlinked intervention of establishing cooperative assets alongside technical assistance to the cooperatives as well as smallholder farmers proved successful in improving profits.

Join Us

Grameen Foundation invites you to join this transformative journey to unlock sustainable prosperity for Davao’s coconut farmers—especially women smallholders. Together, we can drive systemic change across the value chain, catalyze climate resilience, and build equitable markets that uplift entire communities.

Contacts for more information:
Christine Violago, Regional Director - Asia & the Pacific, cviolago@grameenfoundation.org
Judith Agnoletto, Senior Program Manager, jagnoletto@grameenfoundation.org