The ram press is a manually operated, low-cost piece of equipment which was developed in 1985 by the NGO Appropriate Technology International through its Village Oil Press Project in Tanzania. The press was originally designed to be used by smallholder farmers to process soft-shelled sunflower seed and over l 80Q units have been sold since that time. The paper describes the use of this press for processing dried coconut (copra, dried fresh coconut gratings and the dried residue from aqueous, coconut processes). Mean throughput of Coconut was found to be around 4 kg per hour. l 0 kg dried residue yielded 2.7 kg crude oil and 7.3 kg cake. Mass balance analysis shows an overall oil extraction efficiency from aqueous coconut processing and subsequent ram pressing of around 75 %. Proximate analyses of the Coconut residues after pressing are reported together with a financial analysis of the press operation in Tanzania.