Monday, July 03, 2006
Grand plans set for seaweed industry
Julie S. Alipala
Inquirer
Published on page B2-2 of the June 19, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
SITANGKAI, TAWI-TAWI--A MASTER plan has been prepared to generate more than P1 billion worth of financial, technical and material support from local, national and foreign stakeholders for this town's main industry--seaweed production.
The pledges of support excite seaweed farmer Almodier Abduraup, 26, married with three children.
Abduraup is one of the 137 pondohan leaders whose lives depend on seaweed farming. The master plan has given him and the whole town hope for a better life.
A pondohan is a cluster of communities. Each cluster is composed of 35 to 100 households engaged in seaweed farming.
He complained of poor delivery of basic services to the communities here.
"Wala kaming eskwelahan dito, kahit health center, wala (We don't have a school, even a health center here)," he said.
Residents have to travel for two hours by sea to get to the mainland where the nearest school and health center are.
But things are looking up for the community.
"We are very happy. We are hoping that through this master plan, all the manipulations by the capitalists will stop and we will finally be able to sell directly to the market," said Abduraup, who maintains a five-hectare seaweed farm.
In August last year, development organizations and representatives from the Sitangkai municipal government met and held a workshop in Cebu City to discuss the development of the Sitangkai Seaweeds Industry Master Plan (SSIMP) under the leadership of the Philippine Development Assistance Program Inc.
PDAP is a Canadian International Development Agency-funded organization that focuses on rural industry development and market enhancement program.
PDAP executive director Jerry Pacturan said four nongovernment organizations and the Sitangkai local government initially committed to contribute a total of P1.1 million.
The master plan provides for three major programs: industry development, financing and enterprise development.
The plan is aimed at helping the farmers--by increasing their income, improving their standard of living and ensuring the delivery of basic social services--and developing the town into a first class local government unit that is totally independent from Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
It envisions a town that will generate its revenue from its own industry.
"We are offering this concept to all interested stakeholders since this plan intends to allow everyone to participate in the process and benefit from it equitably," said Pacturan.
Under the plan, about P825 million will be earmarked for the industry's development program. This will focus on the expansion of the industry, productivity management, seaweeds processing, industry clustering, installation of specialized infrastructure facilities and the development of the Sitangkai seaweeds brand.
The balance of the projected cost of the program will go to a lending facility for the farmers and an enterprise development program.
Karl Vincent Quiepo, one of PDAP's program officers, showed Sitangkai's resources to the Inquirer during a recent visit.
"The whole stretch (of shore) is ideal for seaweeds, but not all the space will be used because farmers lack the means, particularly capital," Quiepo said.
The vast shallow reefs of Sitangkai, measuring approximately 60,000 hectares, are good for farming of different varieties of Kappaphycus ("cottonii"). Only about 10,000 hectares have been farmed so far.
"There is a lot of room for expansion, not only for seaweed farming but also for aquaculture," Quiepo said.
Seaweed farming in the Philippines, particularly in the Sulu archipelago, started in 1974.
Dr. Iain Charles Neish of SeaPlantnet, which is involved in agribusiness under the Program for Eastern Indonesia SME (Small Medium Enterprise) Assistance or Pensa, is saddened by the conditions of seaweed farmers here.
Neish, who started a seaweeds study in Sitangkai in the 1970s, said seaweeds flourished in the island but, despite farmers' contribution to the economy, the farmers' living conditions remained poor.
Neish was referring to the absence of potable water, electricity, technology and telecommunications that the farmers needed.
"That's why we support the master plan by providing the farmers skills and the technology," Neish said.
The Canadian government is a major contributor to the development of the local industry.
Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Sutherland said his government had been contributing about P1 billion a year in development assistance to the country, and about 60 percent of that amount had been poured into Mindanao.
"Good local governance and small business development are inextricably joined. If these work together successfully, they (farmers) will no longer worry about the availability of schools, roads, health, peace and other needs of the community," Sutherland said.
Last month, Sutherland visited Sitangkai and saw for himself how the seaweed farmers lived.
"The government has to create the enabling environment to attract investments, to bring in businesses that will create jobs. The private sector has to create jobs for the young people and help the government generate revenues," Sutherland told Sitangkai residents and local government officials led by Gov. Sadikul Sahali.
Aside from the CIDA, International Finance Corp. based in Davao City, World Wildlife Foundation, Tawi-tawi provincial government and the local government support project of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had pledged their commitment to the master plan.
If everything goes according to plan, Sitangkai will be on its way to economic development it has long been hoping for.
http://money.inq7.net/features/
view_features.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=19&file=1
Inquirer
Published on page B2-2 of the June 19, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
SITANGKAI, TAWI-TAWI--A MASTER plan has been prepared to generate more than P1 billion worth of financial, technical and material support from local, national and foreign stakeholders for this town's main industry--seaweed production.
The pledges of support excite seaweed farmer Almodier Abduraup, 26, married with three children.
Abduraup is one of the 137 pondohan leaders whose lives depend on seaweed farming. The master plan has given him and the whole town hope for a better life.
A pondohan is a cluster of communities. Each cluster is composed of 35 to 100 households engaged in seaweed farming.
He complained of poor delivery of basic services to the communities here.
"Wala kaming eskwelahan dito, kahit health center, wala (We don't have a school, even a health center here)," he said.
Residents have to travel for two hours by sea to get to the mainland where the nearest school and health center are.
But things are looking up for the community.
"We are very happy. We are hoping that through this master plan, all the manipulations by the capitalists will stop and we will finally be able to sell directly to the market," said Abduraup, who maintains a five-hectare seaweed farm.
In August last year, development organizations and representatives from the Sitangkai municipal government met and held a workshop in Cebu City to discuss the development of the Sitangkai Seaweeds Industry Master Plan (SSIMP) under the leadership of the Philippine Development Assistance Program Inc.
PDAP is a Canadian International Development Agency-funded organization that focuses on rural industry development and market enhancement program.
PDAP executive director Jerry Pacturan said four nongovernment organizations and the Sitangkai local government initially committed to contribute a total of P1.1 million.
The master plan provides for three major programs: industry development, financing and enterprise development.
The plan is aimed at helping the farmers--by increasing their income, improving their standard of living and ensuring the delivery of basic social services--and developing the town into a first class local government unit that is totally independent from Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
It envisions a town that will generate its revenue from its own industry.
"We are offering this concept to all interested stakeholders since this plan intends to allow everyone to participate in the process and benefit from it equitably," said Pacturan.
Under the plan, about P825 million will be earmarked for the industry's development program. This will focus on the expansion of the industry, productivity management, seaweeds processing, industry clustering, installation of specialized infrastructure facilities and the development of the Sitangkai seaweeds brand.
The balance of the projected cost of the program will go to a lending facility for the farmers and an enterprise development program.
Karl Vincent Quiepo, one of PDAP's program officers, showed Sitangkai's resources to the Inquirer during a recent visit.
"The whole stretch (of shore) is ideal for seaweeds, but not all the space will be used because farmers lack the means, particularly capital," Quiepo said.
The vast shallow reefs of Sitangkai, measuring approximately 60,000 hectares, are good for farming of different varieties of Kappaphycus ("cottonii"). Only about 10,000 hectares have been farmed so far.
"There is a lot of room for expansion, not only for seaweed farming but also for aquaculture," Quiepo said.
Seaweed farming in the Philippines, particularly in the Sulu archipelago, started in 1974.
Dr. Iain Charles Neish of SeaPlantnet, which is involved in agribusiness under the Program for Eastern Indonesia SME (Small Medium Enterprise) Assistance or Pensa, is saddened by the conditions of seaweed farmers here.
Neish, who started a seaweeds study in Sitangkai in the 1970s, said seaweeds flourished in the island but, despite farmers' contribution to the economy, the farmers' living conditions remained poor.
Neish was referring to the absence of potable water, electricity, technology and telecommunications that the farmers needed.
"That's why we support the master plan by providing the farmers skills and the technology," Neish said.
The Canadian government is a major contributor to the development of the local industry.
Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Sutherland said his government had been contributing about P1 billion a year in development assistance to the country, and about 60 percent of that amount had been poured into Mindanao.
"Good local governance and small business development are inextricably joined. If these work together successfully, they (farmers) will no longer worry about the availability of schools, roads, health, peace and other needs of the community," Sutherland said.
Last month, Sutherland visited Sitangkai and saw for himself how the seaweed farmers lived.
"The government has to create the enabling environment to attract investments, to bring in businesses that will create jobs. The private sector has to create jobs for the young people and help the government generate revenues," Sutherland told Sitangkai residents and local government officials led by Gov. Sadikul Sahali.
Aside from the CIDA, International Finance Corp. based in Davao City, World Wildlife Foundation, Tawi-tawi provincial government and the local government support project of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had pledged their commitment to the master plan.
If everything goes according to plan, Sitangkai will be on its way to economic development it has long been hoping for.
http://money.inq7.net/features/
view_features.php?yyyy=2006&mon=06&dd=19&file=1
# posted by GeorgeM @ 8:48 PM 
