Coconut Farming as a business training curriculum, workbook launched
MANDALUYONG City, PH, 18 August 2017
The Sustainable Certified Coconut Oil project (SCNO) project and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) launched the Coconut Farming as a Business training curriculum and farmers’ workbook (in the Cebuano dialect) during the opening day of the 31st Coconut Week Celebration and 4th International Coconut Festival.
The training will guide agricultural extension workers and coconut development officers in capacitating 3,000 coconut farmers on the business side of coconut farming, particularly on the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the farm business and on the latest practical and technical innovations in the coconut industry, to increase the farmers’ productivity and income.
The training curriculum and farmers’ workbook were conceptualized by GIZ in cooperation with PCA, the Agricultural Training Institute, and the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards.
At the launch, GIZ Philippines Agri- DPP Chief Advisor Matthias Radek presented the concept of farming as a business and briefly introduced the curriculum and workbook, before turning over the materials to PCA Deputy Administrator Roel Rosales.
“The coconut industry has so much potential but our coconut farmers remain poor. This is the time for change, the time to change our mindset and perspective on farming. This is a good first step to really revolutionize the way we do coconut farming,” said Rosales in his acceptance speech.
PCA hopes to use the materials even outside the project areas in Mindanao and Southern Leyte province.
Read the full publication here.
– By Kei Calaranan
The Sustainable Certified Coconut Oil project (SCNO) is a public-private-partnership initiative which aims at increasing the quantity of sustainably produced and certified coconut oil and at increasing smallholder coconut farmers’ incomes in the Philippines and in Indonesia. At the same time SCNO is focusing on establishing a certified chain of custody for sustainable certified coconut oil.
