In 1967, the first commercial farming trial for Eucheuma was developed at Caluyas Island in Antique which is south of Mindoro. The method used here was nylon lines with bamboo floats in an area of 2500 sq.m. The Marine Colloids provided a seed fund of P45,000 to initiate the project.
It was observed that the growth rate of Eucheuma decreased after 20 weeks due to excessive light. This finding led to the use of submerged lines.
After the experiment in Caluyas, the farming trials were transferred to Ilin, Mindoro in 1969. A 1.0 ha area located in a sandy bar was developed with 12 modules. One module was ¼ ha. In this area, growth of Eucheuma was satisfactory but the salinity of water was lowered by the presence of a spring nearby.
At Ilin, Mindoro, Mr. Alvarez trained a Muslim teacher, Mr. Baltapa Anjail, from Siasi, Sulu, for a couple of months. After his training, he developed a seaweed farm with the assistance of Mr. Alvarez at Tapaan Island, Siasi, which is a 25 ha lagoon. The first module was developed at a cost of P777.00. This farm turned out to be a very beautiful farm consisting of a mixture of Eucheuma species. The farm was expanded to 4 modules. A ¼ ha plot or module contained 25,000 plants.
This farming trial, unfortunately, did not prosper due to some administrative problems related to public relation matters between the foreign student who was detailed to oversee the project and the local politicians. The project was then shifted to Sitangkai wherein the system was changed from company farm to family farm. A US$25,000 grant, was provided for the development of family farm system which was worked out with the municipality of Tawi-Tawi thru the local officials. One hectare per family at a fee of P10/ha/year was charged by the municipality. This was in 1971 when the other foreign companies felt that it was not economical for them to operate due to very low production.
The situation did not discourage the Marine Colloids to go on. Mr. Alvarez organized 4 mobile technical assistance teams to assist in the development of family farms. Each team was composed of a team leader, assistant team leader, an engine man, and 2 crew members. These teams were mostly high school graduates who were provided on-the-job training. The first family farm was established in late 1972.
The functions of the mobile team were:
In addition to the mobile technical assistance teams, a technical team from the University of Hawaii was dispatched by Dr. Doty to undertake the following:
This technical team was phased out in 1974 when the family farm system was developed and the farmers could go on their own.
It was projected then that seaweed production of 400 tons in Sitangkai could be attained. The actual production was 536 tons made on the basis of purchases made by the Marine Colloids. This quantity excluded the purchases made by other companies.
Dr. Doty and Mr. Alvarez felt that the growth rate in Sitangkai was not fully satisfactory. Hence, the Calatagan, Batangas experimental farm was established. It was here that the fastest growing seaweed was discovered, the Kappaphycus alvarezii. The refinements in farming technique was also developed here. The changes in planting and harvesting techniques brought about the dramatic increase in production.
From the time the first family farm went into operation in 1972, the Eucheuma farming industry saw a rapid expansion and growth. There has been a fifty-fold increase in exports of farmed Eucheuma (Hollenbeck III, 1983). Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi became the largest Eucheuma farming area in the Philippines. In 1974, Eucheuma production was estimated to be in the order of 12,000-4,000 tons which was a tremendous jump from 500 tons in 1972. Two other companies filled up their inventories and stopped buying. They purchased only 7,500 tons. The price of seaweed dropped to PO.30/kg. The Marine Colloids gave a support price of P1.80/kg to encourage the farmers to keep on their seaweed production. After several years, around 1976, Danajon Reef, north of Bohol was developed with the initiative of existing companies. In both areas, Sitangkai and Danajon Reef, the fishermen and their families opted to engage in seaweed farming as an alternative to fishing mainly because it gave them the opportunity to increase their income levels as compared to fishing. Although these areas were then still rich in fishery resources, their remoteness from market centers generated only very low price for their fish catches. Besides, seaweed farming required modest initial capital investment and could be run by family members, which is a progressive family-oriented entrepreneural system practiced in the Philippines. Eucheuma farming industry has therefore been remarkably successful in involving small-scale family run production units in relatively short duration (Smith, 1987).
The Eucheuma farming industry development in the Philippines was mainly due to the efforts made by Dr. Maxwell Doty, Mr. Vicente Alvarez, Mr. Inocencio A. Ronquillo and Dr. Gavino Trono. The private sector particularly the financial support extended by the Marine Colloids in the conduct of surveys and farming trials, the collaboration of government institutions and support of bilateral donors also contributed to the rapid growth of the industry.
Seaweeds rank third in foreign exchange earnings of the Philippines. Despite the importance of the industry, there is no systemmatic economic analysis of production and marketing arrangements. If at all, these have been ad hoc in nature and sketchy. There has been no economic investigations so far which addressed the matter of variability in yields and profits amongst seaweed farms and within individual farms from year to year (Smith, 1987). The economic benefits to family-run farms in Sitangkai are evident from the physical improvements in the quality of dwellings and community infrastructure which developed since the inception of Eucheuma farming in the area. On account of the lack of socio-economic database to begin with, it is quite difficult to measure the impact of this farming industry on the small seaweed farmers. Nevertheless, despite this inadequacy, the impact has been lauded as significant by various authors. On the other hand, the government is still without hard data with which to base policy decisions as to what to anticipate in the future.
The development of Eucheuma farming in the Philippines was intended to stabilize the supply of raw material required by the major processors. Private initiative took the reins and developed the industry to what it is at present (Hollenbeck III, 1983). The government played a supporting role by providing extension services through training programme, collaboration in demonstration work and research activities with universities.
This accounts for the ad hoc nature of economic studies made on Eucheuma farming. Ad hoc information gathered so far indicated that the Eucheuma farming industry is “able to absorb a wide range of output price and cost shocks and that the industry is still resilient (Padilla and Lampe, 1989).” The output price fluctuations and costs shocks referred to here may be due to the oligopsonistic structure of the Eucheuma seaweed farming industry.
The Philippines is the largest producer of Eucheuma seaweeds. The total export of Philippine Eucheuma (dried) was 18,386 tonnes. This consists of Eucheuma “cottonii” and E. “spinosum” types. Table 1 shows the quantity of these seaweeds exported from 1985 to 1989.
While the Philippines enjoy the practical monopoly of Eucheuma farming production, it would be beneficial to develop farming of other seaweeds such as Gracilaria. This would cushion the effects of the possibility of losing out part of the Eucheuma market to other countries such as Indonesia in the future. The Philippines should look at Gracilaria farming to diversify the seaweed farming industry and develop other coastal communities with potential for Gracilaria farming.
