Rural Agro-Enterprise Partnership for Inclusive Development and Growth (RAPID Growth) project of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Lanao del Norte facilitated the inking of the commercial partnership agreement (CPA) between Malingao Community Services Multi-purpose Cooperative (MCOCO) and Granexport Manufacturing Company.

MCOCO is a farmer organization identified by DTI Lanao del Norte as the main consolidator of copra products in the province. Aside from having 1,404 farmer-members, the organization will also coordinate products coming from an additional of 1,196 farmers from six other coconut farmer organizations.

Meanwhile, Granex is the biggest copra milling facility in the world and is widely known for its coconut oil exports and as a manufacturer of premium coconut cooking oil.

Under the CPA, MCOCO will deliver 70% of its total copra production or about 263 metric tons to Granex quarterly. Copra is the dried meat or kernel of the coconut and it is where coconut oil is being extracted from.

The agreement is one of the milestones of DTI’s RAPID Project as it aims to link farmers and businesses. The five-year project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), supports the socio-economic agenda of the current administration in reducing poverty through strengthening rural enterprises particularly in provinces with poverty incidence above forty percent.

Aside from the agreement, the project is also negotiating with other institutions who will absorb coconut charcoal and coconut fiber on a consolidated volume. ♦

Date of Release: 22 March 2021