Grow Asia Benefits Coconut and Other Agri Smallholders

Grow Asia, a farm production platform, is benefitting 117,000 smallholders in coconut, coffee, corn, fisheries, and vegetables, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) said. Based in Los Baños, Laguna, SEARCA, through Grow Asia, has supported the development of organized and skilled farmers. Grow Asia has demonstrated farming models that now integrate small farm owners into the big ASEAN value chain. ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) co-founded Grow Asia with the World Economic Forum.

Grow Asia-Philippines Partnership for Sustainable Development has built synergies between different value chain players in agriculture.  It facilitates delivery of many interventions including agricultural and technical-vocational skills training in the production of coconut, coffee, corn, fisheries and vegetables. Grow Asia-PPSD is providing a Mindanao-based program multiple interventions in farmers’ production of coconut water and development of skills and know-how in coconut intercropping, replanting, and market access. Partners in this program are Unilever, Friends of Hope, and KFI Center for Community Development.