BASF and Procter & Gamble join forces to drive production of sustainable certified coconut oil in Philippines and Indonesia

BASF and Procter & Gamble have formed a development partnership with Cargill and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in a bid to drive production of sustainable certified coconut oil.

The companies have joined together under the develoPPP.de programme by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and are targeting Southern Mindanao and Southern Leyte in the Philippines and Amurang in North Sulawesi, a province of Indonesia with the scheme.

According to a statement released by BASF, the main aim of the program is to work with smallholder farmers to teach them better practises in order to ‘increase their incomes and economic self-sufficiency by improving the productivity of their farms.’ As part of the program around 3000 farms in the Phillippines and 300 in Indonesia will receive training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), intercropping and enhanced farm management skills, and the strengthening of farmer groups.

Jack Ryan, Vice President P&G Chemicals/Flavor & Fragrances, said, “P&G is committed to being a good corporate citizen and doing the right thing. We believe that transparency in our supply chain helps drive the sustainability of our coconut oil supply. Our SCNO partnership will lead to better practices for our industry, and improved lives of the smallholders in our supply chain.”

Building on a preceding development partnership ‘Nucleus of Change’ between BASF, GIZ and Cargill, the partnership is also working on establishing a chain of custody for certified material to help increase ‘transparency along the supply chain.’

Harald Sauthoff, Vice President Global Procurement Natural Oils and Oleochemicals at BASF said, “These initiatives show that there is high commitment by all partners to further promote the production of certified, sustainable coconut oil. The results that have been achieved in the project ‘Nucleus of Change’ in General Santos in the Philippines until today now lay the foundation for this extended cooperation with Procter & Gamble as a new partner.”