Our Brief History

The formation of Kalipunan ng Maliliit na Magniniyog ng Pilipinas (KAMMPIL), Inc., as a national federation of small coconut farmers and farmworkers is the continuation of the peasant struggle waged in 1981 to stop the collection of the infamous coconut levy that was plundered by the Marcos dictatorship and his cronies.   In 1981, saw the formation of regional coconut-farmer organizations that campaigned to stop the collection of coconut levy.  These organizations includes the Bicol Coconut Planters Association, Inc. (BCPAI), Alyansa Laban sa Monopolyo sa Industriya ng Niyog (ALAMIN-Timog Katagalugan) and Alyansa sa Paglingkawas sa Industriya sa Lubi (APIL) in Mindanao.  These organizations successfully halted the collection of the levy, which was a big victory for the small coconut farmers, since the coconut levy contributed to the decline of domestic prices of copra.

 
The justice that must accrue to the small coconut farmers was not realized even after the dismantling of the dictatorship, which calls for a broader unity among the aggrieved farmers.  Thus, a strong coconut farmer organization is needed to continue the struggle and claim the justice that was robbed to them. 

The formation of the national federation was done through the help of different farmer support NGO's by conducting regional-island coconut-farmer consultations.  These consultations resulted for the clamor to have a national center for the small coconut farmer and farmworkers that will act as the vehicle for the resolution of the different issues that cropped-up during the consultations. The issues were share-tenancy, low copra prices, poor government support, agrarian reform, farmer representation and coconut levy recovery.   

Thus, KAMMPIL was organized in October, 199I through a national congress held at the Ateneo de Manila University and was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January 8, 1992.