to follow. Practical, hands-on examples are much more important for fishers than a theoretical business plan in a classroom.
8.1.4 Financial capital The problems:
Lack of access to financial capital and fluctuating income section 5.3.2, sections 6.3.1, 6.3.5 and 6.3.6 ‘financial field’. The most common request from
poor fishers was financial capital. They complained that they did not own anything that could be used as collateral to borrow at reasonable interest rates.
Many found that their fluctuating income may saving difficult and they were prone to a cycle of debt.
Lack of direction about how to invest financial capita l Table 5.2 ‘attitude
to risk’, Table 5.6 ‘capacity building and training’, section 6.3.1 ‘financial field’. Yet despite protesting “we need financial credit” it was surprising the number of
respondents who did not have a clear plan of how they would use that credit to help their livelihoods. In several situations small sources of credit were available,
albeit at high interest rates or through family members, and some motivated individuals had already taken advantage of this credit to start fish processing or a
small kiosk in their house. The fact that many respondents could not demonstrate how they would use credit to develop their livelihoods, indicates that the
underlying problem could be more connected to the human capacity aspects of risk aversion, poor financial management skills and a lack of entrepreneurship.
The solutions:
Creative solutions, ideally from within the community. The Minangkabau
people of West Sumatra are renowned as traders and having multiple sources of income is the norm for most families. Yet many crew members were solely
dependent on the income from fishing. Where families were able to open kiosks in their homes, these tended to be small scale and the people purchasing from them
were immediate neighbours. One of the disadvantages of this is that money was circulating within the small community rather than being invested from outside.
While rice farming, small kiosks, and livestock rearing will have an important role
as supplementary livelihoods in the coming years, new economic openings need to be sought. Processing and value adding of the fish products that are caught
could be one opening. Lower input aquaculture such as seaweed farming or tilapia is suitable in some places with higher input grouper farming being a possibility in
others. Tourism is another obvious option in some parts of West Sumatra. Feasibility studies are needed to ensure that whatever is chosen, it needs to be
appropriate for the context and realistic for low income poor fishing families. Moreover, the ‘journeying’ alongside of people is important, firstly to identify
what businesses residents want to develop and secondly to source the financial capital for that.
Funds for non-fishing livelihood development. Most of the financial aid
currently targeted at improving livelihoods is spent on capitalizing the fishing industry Stanford et al., 2014. A higher proportion of this should be directed
away from fishing towards other alternatives. This takes fishers into new areas where they do not have the expertise and where they will need help, as for
example with the duck rearing example above. If fishers could be paired or mentored by a local businessman, then this void could be filled. If the government
was able to provide low interest loans in return for a guaranteed pro-poor business they may be able to provide an incentive for local businessmen to be amongst the
change agents who are building human capital.
8.1.5 Physical capital The problems:
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