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THE Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) Oil Mills Group and the
Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) recently signed a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) to operationalize the various components of the
Coconut Farm Development Program (CFDP).
The CFDP is a comprehensive program that hopes
to bring about countrywide development through the promotion of
efficient, competitive and sustainable coconut farming systems. It
has four main components: establishment of nurseries;
intercropping in coconut farms; coconut value-adding; and operation
of an agribusiness service kiosk.
Signing the MOA were CIIF Oils Mills President
and CEO Danilo M. Coronacion and FFF President Leonardo Q.
Montemayor.
CIIF Oils Mills Group, a private association of
accredited oil mills operating all over the country, tapped several
networks of farmer organizations to assist in the implementation of
the program at the ground level.
The program aims to develop 1.3 million hectares
of agri-business lands and to increase the productivity of coconut
farm systems by providing small coconut farmers and their families
with livelihood, employment, and income opportunities.
Before the signing of the said agreement, the
CIIF Oil Mills signed an MOU with the FFF, small coconut farmers’
cooperatives/organizations, nongovernment organizations, educational
institutions, and local government units to form a national network
called the FFF-CFDP Network, to implement the coconut program.
-- Ira Karen Apanay
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