Coconut

Crops we work with

Coconut

Cocos nucifera

Renewing coconut with Dynamic Agroforestry — healthier soils, climate-resilient palms, and a secure, sustainable coconut farming.

Coconut palms in a diverse Dynamic Agroforestry system

Coconut, grown with nature

Coconut is a backbone crop for millions of tropical farmers, yet ageing, single-species plantations on tired soils are increasingly vulnerable to drought, pests and declining yields. ECOTOP brings Dynamic Agroforestry to coconut — interplanting the palms with diverse trees, food and biomass species so the whole system regenerates.

Managed by pruning and continuous soil cover rather than chemicals, DAF rebuilds fertility, buffers the climate and diversifies farmer income — while securing a long-term, sustainable coconut farming.

Plantation-scale
transforming whole coconut production, not just single plots
2021–22 pilot
proved agroforestry-based coconut works — now being scaled up
Coconut + cocoa
palms interplanted with cocoa, food and timber in one living system
0 inputs
the system feeds itself through pruned biomass — no external inputs

How we work with you

A tailored programme with you — from first assessment to landscape transformation — building the local capacity to run and scale it.

1
Assess
Assessment mission
We assess your plantations, soils, climate and palm condition, and run an introductory Dynamic Agroforestry workshop.
2
Design
Tailored programme
Together we design a Dynamic Agroforestry system — coconut on top, interplanted with cocoa, food, timber and biomass trees — tailored to your plantations.
3
Empower
Local capacity building
We train and equip your technical teams, service crews and lead farmers to run, adapt and scale the whole Dynamic Agroforestry system themselves.
4
Scale
Landscape transformation
We roll the system out block by block across the plantations, regenerating coconut farming at scale.
5
Monitor
Monitoring & reporting
Optionally, we monitor plots with the DAF Tracker (built with FarmTree) for transparent, comparable data.

Renewing ageing plantations

Much of the world’s coconut grows on decades-old plantations with depleted soils. Rather than clearing and replanting, Dynamic Agroforestry renews these plantations — interplanting diversity around the existing palms and rebuilding the soil that sustains them.

In Côte d’Ivoire, ECOTOP advises the “Sustainable Coconut Oil from Côte d’Ivoire” initiative, converting coconut plantations to Dynamic Agroforestry and training local teams to run the system.

Renovating an ageing coconut plantation with Dynamic Agroforestry

What Dynamic Agroforestry brings to coconut

Healthier, fertile soils

Continuous biomass and soil cover restore fertility around ageing palms.

Climate & drought resilience

Healthier soils hold more water and the diverse understory eases stress — making the plantation more resilient to drought and rainfall extremes.

Diversified income

Cocoa, food and timber crops earn alongside the coconut.

Secure, sustainable production

A regenerating system underpins a reliable, long-term coconut farming — with no external inputs.

Where we work with coconut

Programme & partners

The science behind DAF

Sourcing coconut or its derivatives? Let’s make it regenerative.

ECOTOP helps producers and buyers move coconut out of tired monoculture and into resilient, biodiverse Dynamic Agroforestry. Let’s talk about your coconut.

Talk to our team