POTENCIAL FOR EUCHEUMA “COTTONII” SEAWEED
FARMING IN SAMOA
Field Document No. 17
| POTENCIAL FOR EUCHEUMA “COTTONII” SEAWEED
FARMING IN SAMOA |
by
DAVID LUXTON
Seaweed Specialist
1999
SOUTH PACIFIC AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (PHASE II)
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
(GCP/RAS/116/JPN)
Suva, Fiji
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PREFACE
The History of Cottonii in Samoa
Recommendations (Upolu and Savaii)
SEAWEED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME - FARMING
Financial Return of Cottonii Growing at the Farm Level
Farm Inputs per Module - Capital costs for 30-line module
SEAWEED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME - TRADING
PROPOSED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME
1. West Upolu map
2. Mulifanuaa/Manono Island region
3. East Upolu map
4. Aleipata region
5. West Savaii map
6. Asau Harbour map
7. Floating raft farming method
8. Recommended off-bottom farming method
9. FOB prices for Indonesian cottonii seaweed
This report identifies coastal sites on Upolu and Savaii islands that have physical features which indicate suitability for cottonii mariculture using the off-bottom constant depth farming method. These sites are located on reef flats at Aleipata and Mulifanuaa on Upolu, and in the Asau Harbour on Savaii.
Areas suitable for farming using the floating raft and floating long-line methods are also identified. However, because of the higher cost and higher labour requirement of these methods, commercial development using the off-bottom method is recommended. Culture on rafts is only recommended to initially increase ‘seed’ stock from the small quantity of recently re-imported plants from Fiji.
Commercially viable farming in Samoa can only properly be assessed by starting some family-owned and operated farms, and monitoring yields and financial returns for effort. The impact of possible negative factors, such as lower salinity in the rainy season and seasonal grazing by juvenile rabbitfish, are best assessed in commercial farming rather than in experimental trials.
The motivation of people to engage in farming is difficult to predict. A farmer price for dry cottonii of SAT 0.75 per kg is recommended, based on estimated trading costs and current world market export prices. This price is above the current producer price for copra. Experience on other Pacific islands indicates cottonii production is an attractive alternative to income from copra, when both commodities are similarly priced at the producer level. Data is also presented to show that cottonii farming at fertile sites can provide a household income equivalent to SAT 7,000 – 8,000 per annum, which is higher than many current household incomes in Savaii and rural Upolu.
There are established companies in Samoa with experience in other crops, such as copra, which could enter the trading business of purchasing and exporting cottonii. Multinational foreign processors are already purchasing in the Pacific Islands, and the sale of at least 1000 MT per annum can be guaranteed by supply agreement with one of these companies.
To promote and assist with the start-up of commercial farms it is recommended that the Government of Samoa submit aid-donor proposals for a twelve-month input from a cottonii production expert. It is suggested that the production expert work closely with Fisheries Division, while being directly responsible to the export company(ies) involved. The recommended scope of the expert's input is outlined in this report with a cost estimated of USD 120,000.
Seaweed mariculture, the managed cultivation of marine plants, has been established in the eastern world for over 400 years and is associated with the use of cultivated species for food. In the western world seaweed extracts, known as phycocolloids, are used in processed foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products. As new applications for seaweed extracts have developed, the demand for certain species has initiated the recent mariculture of carrageenan-bearing seaweed.
The supply of red seaweed for carrageenan manufacture was dominated until the early 1970s by the wild crop harvesting of species on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America. Wild Eucheuma species were also harvested from Indonesia, but the supply was limited due to over-exploitation. After ten years of research the commercial ocean farming of Eucheuma was established in the Southern Philippines in 1973, and the technology has subsequently been transferred to Indonesia, Malaysia, Tanzania, and several Pacific Island countries. The Republic of Kiribati was one of the first countries to receive farmed Eucheuma introduced from the Philippines twenty years ago, in 1977.
The principal species farmed in the Philippines today is Kappaphycus alvarezii var. tambalang, previously named as Eucheuma alvarezii, and also previously referred to as Eucheuma striatum. However, in seaweed trade this commodity is referred to as cottonii seaweed, and the trade name ‘cottonii’ is adopted in this report. The farming of a second species, Eucheuma denticulatum, followed the success of cottonii production from the Philippines. This species is known in seaweed trade as spinosum. Carrageenan is the commercial name given to the hydrocolloid extract from cottonii, spinosum, and several other seaweeds of the class Rhodophyceae. Carrageenan has numerous applications, the most important being the formation of water soluble gels.
Today the carrageenan industry consumes more than 130,000 MT of seaweed per annum, and 85% of this requirement comes from farm production in the Philippines, Indonesia and Zanzibar. Philippines production of cottonii is in excess of 80,000 MT per year. The continuing success and growth of the carrageenan industry are largely due to the development of cottonii and spinosum farming. In the Philippines it is estimated that more than 70,000 fisherfolk are directly involved in farming cottonii.
Farming cottonii seaweed has now been established as a successful industry for twenty-five years in South East Asia. The fact that prices for this commodity have never been stable has led to cyclic fluctuations in world production. At times supply has exceeded demand, and at other times demand has been higher than supply. Overall the industry has shown good sustained growth, and it is predicted to continue growing at an average rate of between 5% and 8% per annum.