Jepara coastal community capitalizes on seaweed farming

Suherdjoko ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Semarang   |  Fri, 07/03/2009 2:56 PM  |  The Archipelago

The coastal community in Jepara regency, Central Java, has been having a field day cultivating seaweed, most of it in a 20-hectare area in the Karimun Jawa island chain.

The head of the Jepara Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Office, Achid Setiawan, told The Jakarta Post recently the target seaweed production this year was set at 1,500 tons, a marked increase of 1,216 tons, or 23.3 percent, from last year's total production.

Seaweed cultivation in the area involves students from Karimun Jawa. Karimunjawa 1 vocational school deputy principal, Himawan, says as many as 70 of the 150 male students there were engaged in seaweed farming on a 2.5-hectare plot.

"We have been cultivating seaweed here since 2003, alongside local residents," he explains.

"We harvest it once every two months. However, we can only have up to four harvests a year, because the rest of the time the weather is bad."

Fresh seaweed sells for between Rp 500 (4 US cents) and Rp 800 a kilogram. The current price of the commodity is Rp 600.

"In dried form, it fetches up to Rp 13,000 a kilogram," Himawan says.

"Our harvests are bought by traders in Karimunjawa."

The sale value is considered low, especially when compared to the value when it is exported in extract form - the price then can reach Rp 29,000 a kilogram.

The students can harvest up to 4 tons of fresh seaweed at any one time. They get 30 percent from sales, while the school gets the other 70 percent, after providing seedlings, equipment and boats.

Achid, from the fisheries office, says the current seaweed cultivation area covers a total area of 20 hectares, spread across Parang, Nyamuk and Karimunjawa islands - an increase of 20 percent from last year's coverage of only 15 hectares.

More than a thousand people are involved in seaweed cultivation here. Of those, 833 are residents of Karimunjawa, and the remaining 200 are from Jepara, on the mainland.

Achid explains that Jepara is the largest seaweed production center in Central Java, followed by Pekalongan, Pemalang and Cilacap, generating total earnings and sales of Rp 850 million a year.

He adds the regency administration is now exporting seaweed directly. It is sold to collectors and later stockpiled at large-scale upstream producers in Semarang, which then process it into extract form and send it overseas.

Jepara Regent Hendro Martojo is duly impressed by the keenness shown by the Karimunjawa residents in cultivating seaweed.

"They developed the activity with just Rp 2 million in start-up capital," he points out.

"We will further drive people to develop various businesses with added value to improve people's well-being."

The agriculture and fishery sectors contributed 23.9 percent to the regional domestic income in 2007, while the biggest share came from timber-processing sector, which stood at 27.49 percent, and from retail trade at 21.7 percent.

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