Indonesia is a widespread archipelagic country composed of over 30 000 big and small islands with wide span of marine waters, very long coastline and with extensive reef areas. The country has very suitable environment for various marine resources such as the economic marine seaweeds.
A large portion of the population in this country is found along the coastal areas of the archipelago. The lives and livelihood of these people are intimately dependent on the marine resources in the coastal areas. This dependence are more pronounced in far-flung areas which are hardly influenced and benefited by the industrial developments in urban centres.
Seaweeds are among these resources which play an important role in the sustenance of these people. Many species are utilized as food while many others are important raw materials in the manufacture of phycocolloids, such as agar, carrageenan and alginates which are widely used in industries. The commercial products are exported and Indonesia is in fact one of the major suppliers of dried raw seaweeds. The export was close to 3 000 tons in 1977 valued at over US$200 000. This was from as low as 900 tons valued US$58 000 in 1975 and in years before this period. It is noted that seaweed production in Indonesia have fluctuated widely from year to year showing that the supply is unstable and/or the market outlets are not established. The exports have tended to decline while imports which consist mainly of agar-agar have been increasing (Table 2). The demands for these raw materials are expected to increase in the future which will undoubtedly increase the pressure on the local stocks which even at present are already showing signs of depletion. The tonnages and values of production, exports and imports of economic seaweeds in Indonesia for a five-year period are shown (Table 2).
The present economic benefits that these people derive from the seaweed resources is very minimal, inspite of their great potentials. There is, therefore, an urgent need to manage and develop the productivity of these resources. Present efforts, however, are constrained by the lack of information essential for their development as well as the shortage in the technical support manpower to backstop these development efforts.
The rationale for the long-range plans of enhancing the productivity of the resources as a means of improving the socio-economic conditions of the people must be achieved through the implementation of an integrated seaweed resources development programme. In order to achieve these goals, there is need for the establishment of pilot demonstration farms which also will serve as training centres for production and extension work.
The status of the stocks of economically important species must be assessed as well as the potential sites for their culture and natural management. These plans will require the training of technical support manpower and the development of facilities necessary to sustain these development efforts.
The results from these initial efforts will be essential in the formulation and implementation of long-range development programme for the seaweed resources in the country.
The long-range objective of the project is to conserve and manage production of seaweed resources so that it could be a means of uplifting the socio-economic status of the large coastal population of the country.
The immediate objectives are: (i) to establish pilot demonstration farms of economic species particularly the Eucheuma group. These farms shall also serve for training, field testing, production and extension work; (ii) to assess and evaluate the present status of the stocks of economically important species as well as the ecological conditions of the reefs, as potential sites for farming and/or natural management of non-farmable species; (iii) train technical support manpower needed and establish support facilities necessary for the effective implementation of the project; and (iv) to formulate a long-range development programme on this resource based on results derived from (i), (ii), and (iii) above as well as from other sources.
The project will be for a period of three years as preparatory phase. The required staffing, equipment and training components from the donor as well as the counterpart contribution from the government are detailed in this report (Annex C).
A. | Contribution requested from donor | |||
(i) | Personnel | |||
(a) | Experts - staff | US$ 492 660 | ||
(b) | Consultants | 45 000 | ||
(c) | Official travel | 16 000 | ||
Total | US$ 554 310 | |||
(ii) | Training | |||
(a) | Fellowship | US$ 30 320 | ||
(b) | In-service training (Study/tour) | 31 700 | ||
Total | US$ 62 020 | |||
(iii) | Equipment | |||
(a) | Expendable | US$ 50 000 | ||
(b) | Non-expandable | 100 000 | ||
Total | US$ 150 000 | |||
(iv) | Miscellaneous | |||
(a) | Operating expenses and maintenance | US$ 72 000 | ||
of equipment | ||||
(b) | Reporting costs | 3 000 | ||
(c) | Sundry | 18 000 | ||
Total | US$ 93 000 | |||
GRAND TOTAL FOR DONOR CONTRIBUTION | US$ 859 330 | |||
B. | Government counterpart contribution | (In 1 000 rupiahs) | ||
(i) | Personnel | Rp 55 690 | ||
(a) | Technical counterpart | |||
(b) | Administrative support | |||
(ii) | Training | 60 000 | ||
(a) | Local group training | |||
(iii) | Equipment | 78 500 | ||
(iv) | Miscellaneous - operations | 11 000 | ||
GRAND TOTAL FOR GOVERNMENT COUNTERPART CONTRIBUTION | Rp 205 190 |