40
3.5 Summary
The economic analysis above indicates that, where properly conducted, carrageenan seaweed farming can be highly profitable and viable. Relying on free or low-cost
materials and own labour, family farms in the Philippines Cases 15 and 16 could earn more than USD800 per year from one tonne of dried seaweed worth about USD1 000
Figure 18. Even with the cost of materials and labour fully accounted for, commercial farms in Mexico Cases 10 and 12 could still earn more than USD300tonne per year
Figure 18.
Physical capital is usually not a major cost in carrageenan seaweed farming. In Figure 20, the annual capital cost was less than 10 percent of farm revenue in many
cases and less than 20 percent for almost all the cases. Most of the farms were able to recover their initial investments within one year Figure 21.
Materials are usually not a major expense. No fertilizer is needed. Seed materials are usually self-propagated. However, fuel and boat maintenance could cost more than
10 percent of farm revenue Figure 16. Labour is a primary cost in carrageenan seaweed farming. Routine maintenance
and care usually relies entirely on family labour, whereas hired labour is used to help with labour-intensive activities such as attaching cultivars, planting and harvesting.
Farms relying mostly on family labour had high profit margins more than 50 percent, whereas the profit margin for the two commercial operations in Mexico Cases 10 and
12 had profit margins of more than 30 percent Figure 20.
4. SOCIAL PERFORMANCE OF CARRAGEENAN SEAWEED FARMING
4.1 Employment and livelihoods
Contribution to employment Seaweed farming is a labour-intensive activity. In a family operation, spouses, children
and immediate family members work together on the farm. They prepare and seed the lines, harvest the crop, and provide maintenance. Labour is shared particularly during
busy periods such as harvesting and drying. Tying the seed is the most labour-intensive activity and non-family labour may be used. Seaweed farmers in Indonesia and the
Philippines tend to cluster together into villages with the same language and divide themselves into work groups. Similarly, in India, where seaweed cultivation is organized
by SHGs, family labour may be supplemented by members from the same community.
In the United Republic of Tanzania, where small family farms dominate, one production cycle required about 66.5 hours of labour input and generated about
100 kg of dried seaweed Msuya, 2013, Table 4. This implies that annual production of one tonne of dried seaweed entailed 84 person-days assuming 8 working hours
per day of labour input and could generate 0.28 full-time equivalent jobs per year assuming 300 working days per year. In this situation, an industry with 10 000 tonnes
of annual production of dried seaweed
16
could generate 2 800 full-time equivalent jobs. As seaweed farming tends to be a part-time occupation, the number of people
participating in seaweed farming tends to be much more than the number of full-time equivalent jobs.
In India, a survey of 437 households in Mandapam and Rameshwaram indicates that, on average, two family members participated in seaweed farming for 153 days per year.
With an estimated 1 000 households engaged in seaweed farming in the two districts, there could be a total of 2 000 family farmers devoting half their annual working time
to seaweed farming Krishnan and Narayanakumar, 2013.
Besides farming activities, the carrageenan seaweed industry also generates jobs along the seaweed-carrageenan value chains. In the Philippines, it was estimated that
16
The United Republic of Tanzania produced 110 000 tonnes of fresh seaweed in 2009, which could generate about 10 000 tonnes of dried seaweed.
the seaweed industry involved 100 000–150 000 seaweed farmers, 30 000–50 000 local consolidators, and more than 20 000 small traders. The seaweed-carrageenan industry
also created a large number of supportive and administrative jobs in laboratories and government offices Hurtado, 2013.
Hired labour for laborious activities such as tying the seed tends to be low-paid jobs, especially with the availability of abundant unskilled labour. For example, in the
United Republic of Tanzania, the hourly wage of seed-tying job was USD0.03hour, much lower than the net income of family labour USD0.19hour and USD0.24hour
for Cases 19 and 20, respectively Msuya, 2013; see also discussion in Section 3.3 of this synthesis paper. In the Philippines, hired workers mostly female were paid
USD3.00–4.25day to remove impurities from seaweed Hurtado, 2013.
Contribution to livelihoods Most carrageenan seaweed farmers are coastal inhabitants without many assets. They
share equipment, such as boats or drying facilities, with other families. They may be too impoverished to afford basic items such as lines, in which case they must accept
them from intermediaries, as in India and the United Republic of Tanzania, in return for selling the harvest at a pre-arranged price.
Carrageenan seaweed farming requires only minimal capital and material inputs; its farming techniques are relatively easy to grasp; and it can be conducted most of the
year in short production cycles. These characteristics, among others, make seaweed farming a favourable source of livelihoods in coastal communities. As a livelihood
activity, it could offer relatively high and continuous incomes to families. There have been fluctuations in incomes depending on monsoon activity in certain countries but
annual average incomes from seaweed culture are very attractive to coastal families in some places. Being a labour-intensive activity, it may preclude many other activities
and become a substitute for, rather than a complement to, other livelihood possibilities e.g. in the Philippines. However, its attraction is evident from the case studies and
interviews with coastal families – most of whom have benefited from seaweed farming.
In Indonesia, carrageenan seaweed farming provided a stable annual average income USD5 000 to a typical nuclear family farm; for a leader farm, the annual income could
be more than USD15 000. Many surveyed farmers indicated that seaweed farming contributed to most of their incomes but only cost half or even less of their time
Neish, 2013; Zamroni and Yamao, 2011.
In the Philippines, seaweed culture could offer higher returns than alternative activities. Surveyed farmers reported that income from seaweed farming had increased
their annual income by USD632–1 895, helping them to meet daily needs, including children’s education. Cultivation periods are a maximum of 66 days compared with
several months for growing abalone, finfish or lobster, or agriculture crops, such as rice, corn and cassava Hurtado, 2013.
In Solomon Islands, surveyed farmers deemed seaweed farming a diversified livelihood source that improved their incomes and living standards and made them
more food secured. Although traditional fisheries could be more lucrative on an hourly basis, seaweed farming tends to be a more stable livelihood source, providing
more income to households on an annual basis than fisheries, which relies on depleting natural resources Kronen, 2013.
In India, seaweed farming brought higher and more stable incomes to surveyed farmers than did fishing. Income from seaweed farming has not only increased the
physical consumption and wealth of farmers but also facilitated their participation in social functions such as social and religious travelling Krishnan and Narayanakumar,
2013.
In the United Republic of Tanzania, many surveyed farmers especially able and hard-working ones deemed seaweed farming a beneficial economic activity that not
42
only helped them finance their daily expenses but also enabled them to improve housing and purchase assets. However, some farmers deemed the price of E. denticulatum too
low to be worth the effort Msuya, 2013. Further discussion on this issue is given below.
Low income from seaweed farming Contrary to generally positive views in the literature on the contribution of seaweed
farming to livelihoods, which are generally supported by the six case studies, a recent study Fröcklin et al., 2012 brought attention to some less encouraging aspects of
seaweed farming in Zanzibar the United Republic of Tanzania. One major issue is the negative health impacts of seaweed farming, which is discussed below. Another issue is
the extremely low income from seaweed farming. The median daily income of seaweed farmers ranged from USD0.5day to USD2.4day in seven villages being surveyed
20 farmers interviewed in each village Fröcklin et al., 2012.
As indicated in Section 3.3, with a seaweed price of USD207tonne, the net income of family labour was USD0.19hour and USD0.24hour for the cases from the United
Republic of Tanzania Cases 19 and 20, respectively. Assuming eight working hours per day, the daily incomes would be USD1.5day and USD1.9day, which are close to
the upper bound of the range of the survey results in Fröcklin et al. 2012.
The low seaweed price is the main cause of low income from seaweed farming in the United Republic of Tanzania, but it may not be the only reason. Given the seaweed
price in the cases from Solomon Islands USD391tonne, the net income of seaweed farmers in the cases from the United Republic of Tanzania would have been USD0.43
hour Case 19 and USD0.53hour Case 20, which would still be lower than in the Solomon Islands cases USD0.58–1.14hour. This indicates that a relatively low
productivity could be another factor behind low income from seaweed farming in the United Republic of Tanzania.
The daily incomes of USD1.5day and USD1.9day are calculated based on the assumption of 8 working hours per day. However, in reality, the seaweed farmers in
Cases 19 and 20 worked only part-time in a 45-day production cycle and earned about USD15 net income in total. This implies a net income of USD0.3 per day, which is far
from being able to keep the farmers’ livelihoods above the international poverty line of USD1.25day currently used by the World Bank. Thus, it is not surprising that most
of the surveyed farmers in Fröcklin et al. 2012 need to rely on additional income- generating activities.
Occupational health hazards The survey in Fröcklin et al. 2012 indicated poorer health conditions for female seaweed
farmers in Zanzibar the United Republic of Tanzania compared with women involved in other activities. Prominent health problems of the surveyed seaweed farmers include:
general fatigue, musculoskeletal pains, hunger, eye soreness, asthma and other respiratory related problems, injuries by sharp shells or hazardous organisms e.g. sea urchins,
skin problems and allergies. These health problems could be caused by poor working conditions such as intensive work for long hours, handling of heavy objects, andor
exposure to sun, wind, seawater andor toxic vapours Fröcklin et al. 2012, Table 1.
Further studies should be conducted to verify whether similar health issues exist in other seaweed farming countries.
4.2 Gender
Kategori