The Philippines is made up of over 7,000 islands. There are over 1,500 barangays most of which are composed of coastal villages. The main source of livelihood in these areas are fishingand farming. The households are either engaged partly in fishing and farming or basically fishing.
Seaweed gathering is a seasonal activity of coastal villagers particularly where monsoon season is pronounced. This is true in the Visayas and Luzon Islands. In Mindanao, where monsoon season does not affect the region's weather conditions, seaweed farming has become a more established occupation particularly in Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, wherein about 3,000 seaweed farms operate.
Seaweed farming is considered an economical activity for coastal fishermen. It does not require intensive capital; family labour is gainfully employed and the product is marketted both in the domestic and international outlets, given the quality of products produced.
The size of farm area is small. A 1.0 ha farm is considered large as a family farm unit. This initial farm unit can serve as a seed stock farm which could provide plants to seed a total of 64 ha. The initial 1.0 ha farm harvested every three months, of which 50% is retained for seedstock and 50% for drying and disposal would have produced a total of 5,120,000 kgs of fresh seaweeds equivalent to 320,000 kgs of dried material. The estimate total production is summarized in Table 3. Considering that a 100 gm seedstock could grow (E spinosum) over two kilos in 90 days, the estimate of one kilo average weight per plant is conservative.
The estimate cost of putting up a 1.0 ha farm using the stake method is broken down below. A typical seaweed farm layout is shown in Figure 2.
There are six companies based in Cebu which are engaged in processing of Eucheuma seaweeds for semi refimed carrageenan (SRC). As of 1989 the combined rated annual capacity of these processors of SRC was 9 840 tonnes. This is an increase of 28 percent from 1987 capacity of 700 tonnes.
The total export of dried Philippine seaweeds in 1989 amounted to about 31 000 tonnes valued at US$ 37 million. Of this amount, Eucheuma seaweeds made up about 18 400 tonnes which is about 60 percent of the total export. The bulk of these seaweeds are produced by small seaweed farmers in Western Mindanai and Central Visayas regions (Llana, 1991).
BILL OF MATERIALS FOR A 10,000 sq.m. SEAWEED FARM;
A. #120 Nylon as line:
| = 3674 pcs 1 m. wood stake @ P0.50/pc | P 1,837.00 |
| = 268 kgs Nylon @ P130/kg | 34,840.00 |
| = 14 kgs Plastic straw (tie-tie) @ P30/kg | 420.00 |
| = Cost of labor and seedlings | 15,000.00 |
| Total | P 42,097.00 |
B. Twisted Plastic Straw as line:
| = 3674 pcs 1 m. wood stake @ P0.50/pc | P 1,837.00 |
| = 70 kgs Plastic straw @ P30/kg | 2,100.00 |
| = 14 kgs Plastic straw (tie-tie) @ P30/kg | 420.00 |
| = Cost of labor and seedlings | 15,000.00 |
| Total | P 20,357.00 |
From the estimate costs of and production of Eucheuma seaweeds, the returns to the farmer is quite substantial. Based on a 5,000 kg output per year (dried) a total gross income of P75,000 is possible (Table 3). It is anticipated that the economic feasibility of Gracilaria farming would be similar. The results of demonstration activities of the on-going project on Gracilaria farming would determine its profitability in comparison with Eucheuma.
Considering that Gracilaria spp collected from the wild is already being marketed, it is a matter of organizing the marketing framework of the farmers to enable them to obtain better benefits from their production efforts.
It is highly possible that the seaweed farmers, organized into cooperatives would be able to engaged in processing of the raw material. In this way, the fishing communities would have employment opportunities other than seaweed farming alone. The government must have a policy to this effect to safeguard industrial development as a consequence of Gracilaria seaweed farming.
