Jakarta, Sept 24 (Antara) - Indonesia is a large seaweed producer and has the advantage of developing and increasing the added value of the commodity, but the price of this item is decreasing.
Complaints of declining prices have come from farmers cultivating seaweed in North Kalimantan and Maluku, two seaweed producing provinces.
The price of seaweed in Nunukan District is now about Rp6,600 per kilogram (kg) at the collection level. The price could perhaps be higher if the commodity was sold directly to investors.
"I think the price will be higher if investors (factories) in Nunukan buy the product directly from the farmers," Kamaruddin, a seaweed farmer at Kampung Mamolo of Tanjung Harapan, Nunukan District, North Kalimantan, said Thursday.
The same complaint was also voiced by farmers in Maluku. The lower prices discourages farmers in Southeast Maluku District, in Tual City and Aru Islands District to cultivate the commodity.
"The price of seaweed now is only between Rp6,000 and Rp8,000 per kg, and it discourages farmers," Fredik Rahakbauw, a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD) in Maluku, said Monday.
Indeed, Indonesia's seaweed industry has many comparative advantages compared to the production of a number of neighboring countries such as the Philippines, Seaplant.net Foundation President Iain C Neish said.
"The comparative advantage of Indonesia's geography is particularly ideal for its location below the equatorial line," Iain Neish said in the Foreign Buyer Mission (FBM) 2016 event on Agar and Carrageenan held in Jakarta Saturday.
The business forum event was held in cooperation between the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) with the Swiss Import Promotion Program (SIPPO), a foundation led by Neish.
Indonesia does not have hurricanes like the ones in the Philippines which is often hit by typhoons especially in the north of the country where there are many seaweed cultivation locations, according to Iain.
"Typhoons have destroyed seaweed cultivation in the Philippines on several occasions," Iain said, and added that if the supply of the Philippines is not adequate then seaweed from Indonesia is ready for supply.
In addition, another advantage of Indonesia is its large population and few political problems such as the problem of insurgency that often exists in the southern Philippines, he said.
As per reports, the threat of delisting or the exclusion from the list of Indonesian seaweed commodities by the United States government is not considered to have had much of an impact on exports, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti said.
"The volume of our seaweed exports to the United States is small so the (delisting) impact is not very significant," minister Susi said in Jakarta Friday.
More than 90 percent of Indonesian seaweed commodities were exported to China, the minister explained.
Previously, the Indonesian Seaweed Association (ARLI) had rejected the policy of "delisting" or exclusion of a commodity or seaweed from the list of organic food which is currently discussed by a number of institutions in the United States.
"This threat is quite serious because it has been through a constructive mechanism, both, starting from the research findings, and then continuing with scientific conventions and publications conducted by higher education institutions there," chairman of ARLI Safari Azis said in Jakarta, Thursday (August 11).
A number of higher education institutions, researchers, and NGOs in the US have asked the US National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to exclude "Carrageenan" Agar from the list (of delisted items), he explained.
The delisting will officially take effect in 2018, so Indonesia must follow up and immediately make defensive preparations, according to Safari.
The chance to defend it can be made at the "Sunset Meeting" which will be held in November 2016 in Missouri, USA, the ARLI chairman explained.
Indonesia is the world's largest seaweed supplier of industrial needs accounting for about 50 percent, he explained. Seaweed is exported a lot to processed seaweed producer countries such as China, the Philippines, and Chile.
"Although we do not export directly to the US, yet our seaweed is absorbed by processed seaweed producer countries which export the commodity to the US. This is what concerns us," Safari said.
Indonesia, a major world seaweed producer, which exports about 90 percent of its seaweed production, has been developing since last year the downstream sector of its seaweed commodity to tap its value in the export market.
For this purpose, the government is planning to build 10 factories to process seaweed into flour and chips that would increase the value of the commodity. As of now, the country exports the commodity in the form of unprocessed dry seaweed.
The country's production of dry seaweed last year was around 10 million tons per year and 90 percent of the production was exported, according to Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti.
Based on this fact, the Indonesian Seaweed Association (ARLI) hopes that the Indonesian government will formulate a program for the development of seaweed in the downstream sector to optimize the commodity's potential in various regions for the benefit of the country's economy.
"We support the government's efforts to develop seaweed in the downstream sector, and we hope that the government will prepare the program in a mature and serious manner," Safari Azis, the chairman of the ARLI, stated recently.
Based on the interim data of the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP), the country's seaweed production in 2014 reached 10.2 million tons, up three-folds compared with the production in 2010, which stood at 3.9 million tons.
This indicates that seaweed is a reliable commodity that needs to be developed by the people, particularly the community in the coastal areas.
Of the 55 seaweed species, two varieties, namely Eucheuma cottnii and Gracillaria spp, have been popular and developed so far to produce processed carrageenan and gelatin.
Besides these two, there are other species which have promising business prospects, namely brown algae (alginate) and green algae (ulva) seaweeds. This is particularly for the cosmetic industry.
The government, therefore, is encouraging industries and seaweed stakeholders to increase research and development efforts for the cultivation of the varieties which have high economic values. ***3***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE/H-YH
(T.A014/B/BESSR/A/Yosep) 24-09-2016 17:34:3 |
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