ZAMBOANGA CITY (Uly Israel / 06 Nov) - While it is true that seaweed farming offers tremendous potentials for marginal income earners in the Philippines to stave off poverty, the emergence of globalization, the gnawing structural defects and the concomitant exploitation of farmers by those who have the means to manipulate prices – all add up to sustaining if not worsening poverty in the coastal areas, a seaweed specialist claimed.
The seaweed industry’s contribution to the country’s foreign exchange earnings has been significant thus seaweed is hailed as one of the most successful marine products in recent years, said Virgilio L. Leyretana, chief of the Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco).
According to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) records, the Philippines is the leading supplier of Eucheuma seaweeds, accounting for about 80 percent of the total world supply.
“But while exporters, traders and processors are making it big in the world market, the industry remain just a mere provider of less than minimum basic needs for its farmers,” Dr. Sitti Amin M. Jain said in her book
“The Seaweeds Industry”.“The huge demand fueled by the increasing requirements of multinationals and countries that are now plucking every raw dried seaweed that the Philippines can produce may have a good impact on farmers if structural defects within the local seaweed industry are corrected,” Dr. Jain said.
Otherwise, Jain asserts, “benefits from the huge exports of seaweeds will only accrue to traders and some unscrupulous middlemen and buyers who supply giant multinationals, Third World countries will continue to be mere sources of cheap labor and raw materials sustaining if not worsening poverty, just as the farmers will continue to be in the system periphery toiling hard for rich traders and processors in exchange for mere survival.”
“Much has been reported of the success of the industry but there is no known study on the economic status of poor farmers who have toiled for generations to provide for traders, exporters and processors and swell the coffers of the national economy with foreign earnings… the problem and survival prospects of seaweeds farmers were never highlighted or paid attention to by the major players of the industry or by the government,” she lamented.
Is her book a condemnation of the whole laissez faire system? Not really, she hopes that the result of her rigorous research would provide reliable basis for industry players and development planners to address the economic condition of seaweed farmers and their families whose survival largely depend on the industry.
Her study was conducted in Zamboanga Peninsula Region which is the second largest supplier of seaweeds in the country next to Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The entire Mindanao area produced in 2002 a total of 524,611 metric tons (MT) almost 60 percent of the total Philippine production of 894,859 MT.While Visayas and Luzon accounted for 40 percent with a production of 370,245 MT based on the data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics of the Department of Agriculture.
Dr. Jain said the story of the seaweed industry is an interesting one. It started in 1972 when seaweeds and the derivative carrageenan burst into the economic stage with a bang and a lot of promise.
Driving them into center stage was the versatility of the product that was a staple of the food and pharmaceutical industries as well as huge and diverse demand for it overseas swell.
She said: “Along shorelines, seaweed farms sprouted up and a new breed of farmers and traders was born. Large modern warehouses and processing facilities swallowed up the dried seaweeds that filled up to the brim the container vans from the south.“
New fortunes were made but the big slice of the industrial pie went to the processors and exporters. The farmers of the south, the suppliers of raw materials, ironically got the crumb and the leavings. The picture has not changed since then.
“The story of the industry may write a new chapter when the big players discover, hopefully not belatedly that the seaweed rainbow in the sky will continue to glow only when those at its base get to share more of the rewards.”
Dr. Jain observed that the seaweed industry faces serious problems and challenges ranging from declining production to deteriorating quality of seaweed produced by the farmers.
A study made by the University of Asia and Pacific (UAP), revealed that the industry is facing high incidence of low farm productivity, poor qualityof seaweeds due to early harvesting.
The farmers also used salt and stones to increase product weight and other malpractices. The study also emphasized the lack of industry-wide quality standards for raw seaweeds inadequate technical services and training on planting, harvesting and drying and lack of farm or village levels of post-harvest and drying facilities.
Dr. Jain countered that these problems related to the capacity and capability of the farmers to appropriately manage highly productive farms and quality produce might have stemmed from farmers’ poverty, vulnerability, powerlessness, isolation, and even physical weakness which resulted in the inability to cultivate bigger farm areas, the promotion of premature harvests, improper farming techniques, consequently, affecting farm productivity.
Unless problems affecting farmers are identified and addressed, the growth of the entire seaweed industry will be stunted, she said.
Dr. Jain’s research focused on three major issues: income of seaweed farmers, presence of exploitation of farmers and the clusters of disadvantages.
It is also confined to seaweed farmers in Zamboanga Peninsula Region.Did income generated by the seaweed farmers serves as alternative to poverty in terms of providing them and their family access to basic needs, basic services, and access to education and social participation?
Results of her research showed:
·63 percent of the seaweed farmers are with income below the poverty threshold.
·4.5 percent of the seaweed farmers experienced hunger.·Per capita income of less than P10,000 for a family of five (annual income).
·34.2 percent have access to community water system.·24.5 percent have access to water-sealed depositories.
·56.6 percent have access to electricity.
·81.6 percent owned houses made of light materials and 9.8 percent owned houses made of concrete materials.
Her study further revealed that seaweed farmers had inadequate knowledge of the market and they were still moderately dependent on buyers; access to financing facilities was lacking; industry information was not accessible to them; and, there were some unscrupulous buyers in the industry.
The study also clearly demonstrated that indeed there existed an exploitation of farmers.
She identified the problems and weaknesses of the farmers, of seaweed farming and of the industry as a whole.The farmers’ inadequacy of income, she said, is affecting their productivity.
As a result, the farmers lack access to proper sanitation facilities, to medical and health care, to education, to communication facilities and to market/industry information.
Seaweed farming is vulnerable to typhoons and bad weather, to diseases, to pollution from nearby factories - concerns that must be given adequate response, she said.
She also lamented the lack of financing facilities specific for the industry. Product standards for dried seaweeds not followed by the industry and local policy regulating the quality of seaweeds is lacking.
To further aggravate the problem, exploitation of farmers is prevalent, she said. The lack of government assistance in providing market information, road infrastructures and post harvest facilities also contributed to the deteriorating situation of seaweed farming.
On the part of the seaweed farmers, she said, the farmers must learn to follow quality standards; build up their organizational capabilities to address concerns on financing, marketing, production costs and techniques.
Dr. Jain’s recommendations are as follows:1. Improve farmers’ income for them to better meet basic needs and gain better access to basic services, education, social participation, financing facilities and other productive resources to help them increase production and expand farm areas.
They should be provided with technical assistance to help them improve farm management, quality assurance, identification of suitable farm areas, and adoption of appropriate farming techniques.2. Local and national government must bring public services closer to the farmers in rural and coastal areas.
There is a need to improve health services, improve access to education, build road networks and enhance the provision of utilities such as potable water and electricity.
3. To help free farmers from exploitation, there is a need to increase their level of empowerment, improve social and community involvement, and foster a sense of belonging.
The government should strengthen its organizational development program for seaweed farmers to facilitate access to government assistance as well as that of NGOs and private organizations. Likewise, introduce new opportunities for additional sources of livelihood. (Mindanao Examiner/to be continued)
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