Seaweed Farmers Search For Greener Pastures (First of Three Parts)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Uly Israel / 01 Nov) - People from the coastal villages tend to flock in the highly urbanized Metro Manila or would sell or mortgage their land to find work abroad in search for their dreams of a decent and comfortable life.

And little did they know that such dreams are within reach even without moving out because there are always opportunities, said Engineer Isidro D. Eijansantos, Jr., a strategic planner from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-Zamboanga City).

But he said opportunities, however, must be exploited to the fullest,

Philippine archipelago with its long shoreline situated near the equator is blessed with a high level of biodiversity of marine life. There is a great treasure that can be unlocked in the country’s marine resources and one of the relatively unexploited treasure chests is seaweed farming – a potential source of wealth that can be replenished with the use of available technology, Eijansantos said.

“With the rich marine resources at our disposal, opportunities abound for everyone to partake in the exploitation of these resources,” he said.

One such opportunity came into being when Dr. Maxwell Doty, a professor of the Department of Botany at the University of Hawaii conducted a research on the natural stock of seaweeds, specifically the Eucheuma variety in the Philippines in 1965, Dr. Sitti Amina M. Jain said in her recently published book, “The Seaweed Industry: Exploring an Alternative to Poverty”.

Seaweeds usually grow in abundance wildly in the southern provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi; these were harvested by fishermen in the areas and sold to traders. As demand grew, stock of fresh and dried seaweeds dwindled in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1968, researches on seaweed production and propagation were conducted by a team of researchers from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), University of Hawaii and Marine Colloids International, Inc. which led to the introduction of the successful seaweed culture technique in the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

In 1972, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Zamboanga fishermen started the first Euceuma commercial farms in the country. Then in 1978, seaweed farming expanded to other areas reaching as far as Bohol, Cebu, and the Leyte-Samar area.

Since then, the seaweed industry has been the lifeblood of an estimated 180,000 farmers directly dependent on seaweed culture nationwide. In the Zamboanga Peninsula alone, latest estimates indicate that seaweeds farming alone benefits 24,712 farmers, providing a source of livelihood for over 130,000 people.

The contribution of the industry to peace and development initiatives particularly in the conflict areas in the region including Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu has been significant, said Dr. Jain, who is also the Assistant Regional Director of DTI-9.

The USAID-Growth with Equity in Mindanao (USAID-GEM) reported that in year 2003 the agency was able to provide livelihood to about 24,000 former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) combatants who venture into seaweed farming.

Dr. Jain said most of the former Muslim secessionists turned to seaweed culture as a means of subsistence, since the vast shorelines of Zamboanga Peninsula offered them the opportunity to engage in seaweed farming and since farming technology was readily available and could be easily learned and adopted.

The seaweeds industry has evolved into a multi-million dollar export business. The industry has spawned an increasing number of traders and exporters. The huge demand for seaweeds –raw dried seaweeds (RDS), semi-processed and refined – in the world market opened up huge potential income for seaweed growers.

In 2001, the Philippines exported 118,460 metric tons (MT) of RDS valued at US $ 131.6 million. The country’s export rose to US $153,2 million of 128,618 (MT) of RDS in 2005.

Indeed, DTI-Zamboanga City and Tawi-Tawi have made seaweeds as top priority product for development and promotion under the One-Town-One-Product (OTOP) program of the Arroyo Administration. Under the OTOP program, players in the production, marketing and distribution of the chosen product get assistance from financing, technical to fiscal incentives from various line agencies of the government.

"Zamboanga City is without doubt an ideal place for seaweed farming for the coastal dwellers," DTI-Zamboanga City said in its primer, a concept paper which focuses on seaweed industry in the city.

"These marine resources gave us unlimited potential, and if used wisely and effectively, will translate to a better quality of living for our people. Seaweed could bring any individual to life full of luxury and comfort due to its lucrative earnings, either fresh or dried,” DTI added.

USES OF SEAWEED

Seaweed is a microscopic algae classified into four classes according to pigment coloring. Most of the red colored seaweeds contain carrageenan which has numerous uses. Carrageenan is a jelly-like substance extracted with alkaline water from red seaweeds. It is used mainly in products that need gelling, suspending, thickening or water holding properties.

In the food industry, carrageenan is used as stabilizer, emulsifier, thickener, and filler and gelling agent for dairy-based products such as cheese, ice cream yogurt, butter, sausages, part thickener.

For the pharmaceutical industry, it is used as cosmetics, capsules, vitamins, bacteria, culturing media, shampoo, lotion cream, lipstick, soap and many more. For the general industry, it is an additive for paper, textile, photo film, toothpaste, shoe polish, fish/meat canner, ceramics, and pesticide and food paste.

Because of its many uses for industrial, pharmaceutical, and food industries, its demand in the world market continues to grow by 5 percent annually, DTI said.

As of 2003, the world demand stood at 5 million metric ton, while the supply gap stood at 2 million metric ton or 40 percent, a huge supply gap to fill, DTI added. (Mindanao Examiner/to be continued)