Tuesday, July 10, 2007 DA to support seaweed farmers
TO HELP level the playing field and boost the productivity of seaweed farmers, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has pledged to support the industry by providing post harvest facilities.
DA Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras said some of the national government’s fisheries programs next year will include the investment of P700 for post harvest facilities and the establishment of five to seven more mari-culture parks in the country.
“And the seaweeds will help enhance the whole mari-culture park,” he added.
In a press conference during the National Seaweed Summit yesterday, Malcolm Sarmiento Jr., director for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the DA said these post harvest facilities like semi-processing, cold storage and drying plants are meant to increase the seaweed farmers’ production and gain access to the market.
These facilities will be situated in every identified cluster in the country, he said.
Paras also added that market access of farmers will be enhanced through the creation of “Bagsakan Centers” where semi-processed seaweeds or seaweed chips are stored in cold storage facilities in addition to the center becoming a venue for trade.
“We are looking at sustainability in seaweed farming. This will give equal opportunities for farmers to become traders. If they depend on the fluctuation of prices, we can’t encourage them to get into that type of farming,” he said.
Sarmiento said an increase in the farmers’ profitability is possible through extensive research development, training, cost harvest, market and credit.
He added that since post harvest facilities aim to benefit farmers in terms of value-added and price stability and, thus, spur growth for the Philippine seaweed industry, he is luring private stakeholders to help invest for these facilities.
At risk
In a separate interview, Benson Dakay, president of the Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines and chief executive officer of Cebu-based Shemberg Corp., said the country’s entire seaweed industry is also at risk if seaweed production is not increased to meet the growing demand of processors.
This will result to the loss of income of industry players, with seaweed farmers being the most vulnerable of all, he said.
There are 500,000 seaweed farmers in the country, he reported.
“The bottom line is to provide financial assistance to farmers again with the help of the government. The industry is facing global shake-out,” Dakay said.
This, in addition to the strengthening of the peso, competition, and even global warming which has continued to cripple the country’s seaweed industry, he said.
“For every P1 loss to foreign exchange, exporters lose P0.87 centavos in revenues,” Dakay said.
The high cost of raw seaweeds in the country has prompted some seaweed processors, who originally buy raw seaweeds in the country, to import from Indonesia.
Dakay said raw materials in the Philippines now cost $1,000 per metric ton, which is expensive compared to Indonesia’s $700 per metric ton.
He added that due to global warming, the global seaweed harvest was reduced to 500 kilos per month compared to the one ton it produced earlier.
Dakay said earlier that because the market for carrageenan is expanding as more food and drug manufacturing companies in the world are shifting to carrageenan as a bonding agent for gelatin products in lieu of cow’s bones and skin, industry players are now importing seaweeds from Indonesia, Cambodia, India and Vietnam.
Some 150 stakeholders gathered for the seaweed summit held yesterday at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino. (MMM)
