PA C I F I C
Seaweed production in Kiribati:
a new cash crop
Hans Bergschmidt, Country Desk Officer*
* European Commission, Directorate General for Development,
200, rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32-2-29 Fax: +32-2-299
keywords: eucheuma cottonii; seaweed production; carrageenan;
marketing; kiribati; pacific; acp
Hans Bergschmidt,
Economist with longstanding field experience in fisheries
and general development cooperation in Africa and other
developing regions; desk officer of Kiribati and Papua
New Guinea
Background
involved with, or derive income from, copra
production. More recently, seaweed production for export has provided an additional
source of rural income, involving more than 12
% of rural households. This is perceived as particularly important as prospects in the Copra
market are not very encouraging and population drift toward the capital city, Tarawa, puts
a heavy strain on infrastructure and social services, exacerbated by unemployment.
An important market exists worldwide for the
type of seaweed, Eucheuma cottonii, introduced
from Hawaii into Kiribati in 1977. Eucheuma
cottonii belongs to the family of Rhodophyceae
(red algae) and is widespread in tropical
waters. It may be refined to extract carrageenan, a commercial name for a gelatinous natural polymers containing carbohydrates and sulphate groups. The value of the seaweed
depends on its content of carrageenan, which
can be used, among others, to cause gelling
and thickening of foods. The main applications
are in petfoods, meat products and dairy and
non-dairy deserts. Lesser applications concern
pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and toiletries, such
as hair care products and toothpaste. World
production is dominated by the Philippines
and has been in the range of 300,000 tonnes
over the last few years with a steady upward
trend (FAO, 1997).
The land area of Kiribati is believed to be a
result of sea floor rise as short as 10,000 years
ago and that humans may have arrived only
since 300 AD when migrants arrived by sea
from futher West, probably from what is now
Indonesia. Western influence on the islands
began in the 18th century, but only in the 19th
century sperm whaling in the area brought frequent ship landings. Raids from South
America to capture slaves were common between 1850 and 1860. The Gilbert Islands and
the Ellice Islands became a British protectorate
in 1892 and a Crown Colony in 1916. The area
was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army
in World War II and freed by US forces in 1945.
In 1975, the eight former Ellice Islands became
the state of Tuvalu, and the Gilbert Islands of
the group achieved independence in 1979, uniting with the Phoenix Islands and the Line
Islands further to the East to form the new
political entity of Kiribati.
Seaweed production in Kiribati
Kiribati consists of 33 low lying coral atolls
with a total land area of only 810 km2 spread
across 3.5 million km2. The population was
estimated at 75,000 people with a per capita
income of US $ 480 in the mid nineties. Kiribati
is a predominantly rural society with a subsistence economy based on agriculture and
fishing. Copra is the main earner of foreign
exchange together with the sale of fishing
licences to foreign fleets and other proceeds
from the fisheries sector. Employment of
Kiribati nationals on foreign vessels also
constitutes an important source of revenue for
the economy. According to the 1995 census,
55.6 % of Kiribati’s 11,920 households are
In Kiribati, commercial production of
Eucheuma cottonii on a smallholder basis began
in 1986 on six of the Gilbert group of islands:
Tarawa, Butaritari, Aranuka, Abemama,
Abaiang and Beru. It peaked in 1991 at 1,020
tonnes, declining to 400 tonnes in 1993, mostly
as a result of adverse weather conditions associated with the ‘El Niño’ induced strong westerly winds destroying many farms. Other reasons contributing to the decline were late payments to farmers, lack of production inputs
and weak production and marketing management. Smallholder farmers sell their product to
the Atoll Seaweed Company (ASC) established
in 1991 and owned by the Government of
Bulletin vol 10 n°3
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Kiribati and one outer Island Council. ASC
purchases seaweed from farmers in the outer
islands and ships it to the capital Tarawa,
where it is pressed into bales for onward shipping. Minimum quantities are required to keep
transport costs at bay over the enormous distance to processing centres.
ASC has been able to overcome some of the
early difficulties, partly thanks to New Zealand
assistance which helped production to pick up
to about 800 tonnes in 1994. In 1993, ASC
signed an exclusive five year marketing agreement with a Danish company specialised in
processing and marketing, Copenhagen Pectin.
Under the terms, Kiribati can sell up to 2,000
tonnes of seaweed per year at a price to be
reviewed every fours months, but with a guaranteed minimum of US $ 553/tonne cif
Copenhagen. The Centre for the Development
of Industry (CDI), a joint ACP-EU institution
created under the Lome Convention, assisted
in negotiating the deal which is considered
highly beneficial to Kiribati.
Septembre 1997
PA C I F I C
EDF support
for the Kiribati seaweed industry
Soon afterwards, in 1994, Kiribati requested
EDF cooperation to sustain the seaweed industry on the islands in order to raise living standards in view of reducing the rural-urban drift.
Three specific objectives are at the heart of the
programme:
- to increase seaweed production sustainably;
- to obtain attractive prices for raw dried seaweed by marketing promotion;
- to diversify into other, local species which
include higher value food grade seaweeds.
Three years into the EDF support, in the two
main seaweed growing islands, Maiana in the
Gilberts and Tabuaeran in the Line Group over
half the total number of households are involved with seaweed farming/production.
Kiribati’s production grew to 1,283 tonnes in
1996. This article addresses primarily the first
specific objective.
Seaweed farmers are unanimous in their rating
of seaweed as the most profitable cash crop
with a number of advantages over other crops
or economic activities. It has been referred to
by one farmer as ‘ara terawa’ (our silver) in
order to underscore its importance as a source
of income and wealth. The choice of one product over another when rational decisions
have to be made in terms of allocating labour
and capital, depends also on such factors as
availability and security of market and price.
In addition to being often more profitable than
alternative crops, such as fish, copra, bêche-demer, and shellfish, seaweed also requires less
effort and is easier to work. Many of the households which have opted for seaweed are ‘toamau’, that is, they have companionship or aid
Septembre 1997
in work, usually in the form of household
members in the productive age bracket to help
carry out all the work required for a specific
task which may be stages in the seaweed production cycle or other household chores considered essential for survival and wellbeing.
The stages of the production process which
involve members of the household other than
the farmer and his/her spouse are the loading
of plant lines with seedlings (‘te kabaebae’) and
harvesting (‘te kaaerake’). The loading of plant
lines using raffia strings requires the optionally
land-based work and the fixing of the charged
plant lines to the stakes before high tide.
Similarly, harvesting needs to be done before
low tide because of the sheer weight of wet
seaweed which is piled onto a raft or boat to
transport it ashore. Younger members of the
household tend to be assigned by the head of
household to execute these tasks.
Seaweed households also continue to engage
in other economic and subsistence activities in
order to spread risk. These comprise fishing,
copra cutting, home-baking, making local cigarettes etc. Overall, their seaweed production
has raised their self-reliance and security. Not
only has it enabled them to meet their needs
for food, consumer items and services, but also
to discharge more readily of their social duties
in relation to their families, communities, villages and churches. Seaweed farmers have
been demonstrated to be able to participate
more actively in social and family events as the
additional cash income allows them to meet
their social commitments more effectively, e.g.
in the form of ‘botaki’ (feasts) organised by their
more distant relatives and which are often
unplanned.
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Social context of seaweed farming
Particularly on the Gilbert group of islands,
farmers tend to be men between 46 and 55
years of age, thus the category of ‘unimwane’ or
‘old men, heads of households’. Few women
are heads of households and seaweed farmers
on their own account. Most continue to have
high stakes in copra. All cash crops are primarily cultivated to meet the basic cash needs of
the household and once satisfied, there is comparatively little motivation to produce more in
this essentially egalitarian society. Average
monthly income from seaweed of a sample of
Gilbert farmers was US $ 49. Many farmers
continue to adopt a relatively casual attitude
towards seaweed farming suggesting that it is
‘te kakakibotu’ (the act of ridding oneself of
boredom). In other words, seaweed farming is
perceived by these farmers as a form of recreation.
Farmers on the Line Islands tend to be younger
on average and invest more into the activity.
On Kiritimati in particular, a semi-urban environment where people have a faster pace of life
than in the rural areas, farmers need to work
longer and more regular hours as costs of
living are higher and alternative jobs are rare.
On the newly settled island of Tabuaeran farmers have performances in excess of what is
needed to satisfy their basic cash needs, as they
‘want to make it’ in their new homes and be
able to repay their settlement costs. As environmental conditions for seaweed are currently more favourable in this part of the country,
farmers are highly motivated and set themselves higher production standards than their
counterparts in the Gilberts. The average
monthly income from the activity in a sample
of households on the two islands was US $ 91,
almost twice the income in the Gilberts.
Bulletin vol 10 n°3
PA C I F I C
Attitudes towards seaweed production thus
vary distinctly between the Gilberts and their
counterparts in the Line Islands. These are related to the natural and social conditions under
which the activity is expanding. On the
Gilberts, farmers’ perceptions ranges from seaweed farming as an almost leisurely additional
occupation to being ‘tawwaki iaan te riringa’
(literally means: ‘dried under the sun’) as the
‘copra-culture’ continues to influence strongly
people’s way of looking at economic activities.
There are early signs that the seaweed production might accelerate social differentiation and
inequality, by creating exclusion phenomena in
those who might not have the space to cultivate it. This seems to be, among others, related to
the egalitarian nature of Kiribati society where
villages without suitable farming conditions
feel excluded and discriminated against because of resource distribution which is not of their
own making. In some cases, this problem
might also depend on the principles of sea
tenure rights which were an extension of land
tenure into adjacent lagoons, mud flats and the
sea. These traditional rights were overruled by
British colonial policy which vested ownership
of land and sea below high water mark in the
Crown. Several current practices, however,
though no longer perceived as ‘legal’ rights,
clearly have their origin in traditional sea tenure practices, e.g. people laying exclusive claims
to certain areas of the lagoon using the traditional way of planting stakes and tying pieces of
coconut leaf to them (‘te kamainaina’).
Towards sustainability
With El Niño induced weather patterns being
felt on seaweed, farmers are engaging in their
own style of experiments and observations to
maintain if not expand production and develop knowledge and ‘ownership’ over what
remains still a relatively new crop. In
Tabiteuea North, for example, one of the more
experienced and more productive farmers
claims to know where to plant and what is the
optimum size of the plot at a particular time of
the year. Another farmer in Kiritimati has
developed a method which he claims saves
him money in production costs as well as
improving the size and quality of his plants.
Instead of using raffia to tie his seedlings to the
plant line, he is making loops on the plant lines
through which he puts his seedlings. He claims
that this method allows the plants to grow
freely resulting in bigger and healthier seeweeds.
These are methods and knowledge which the
farmers are independently developing from
extension services and which, together with
personal information gained from conversation
with fellow farmers, observation and comparison, represent the conditions for their mastering the trade and improving on it. This, together with the increasing number of prospective
Bulletin vol 10 n°3
farmers, are important steps to establish the
industry on a sustainable basis.
In 1997, the Niño-induced reversal in the direction of normally prevailing wind from the east
to the west and its greater strength has damaged many farms. Water temperatures increased by about three to four degrees particularly
in the Line Islands and considerably increased
rainfall coming in short extremely heavy precipitations have taken a toll on that year’s production with a total amount of 924 tons of seaweed purchased by ASC. 1998 is expected to
continue to suffer from the El Niño conditions,
but that production would pick up in the
second half of the year.
From the perspective of transforming the
Kiribati seaweed industry into an entirely selfsustaining business, the medium term target
remains therefore to increase the production to
about 3,000 tons per year for which ASC has a
guaranteed market. Rationalisation and
concentration might also be required if costefficiency considerations prevailed as compared to the original more long-term development objectives.
It must be understood that there is a gulf between the value system in the rural society in
Kiribati and western market reasoning. How
will Kiribati’s society evolve under the twin
influence of its own history but growing urbanisation and western market economies? Tim
Adams of the South Pacific Commission outlined some of these complexities for the occasion
of the Caribbean-Pacific-EU Research Dialogue
sponsored the ACP-EU Fisheries Research
Initiative (Adams, 1997). The project is one of
the activities at the heart of this cultural and
economic cross-road. It is certain, however,
that people’s perceptions develop at a slower
pace than the ordinary project cycle.
While the greater acceptance of the new cash
crop in the smallholders exploitation strategies
is an essential step, there is still a long way
ahead before the Kiribati industry in entirely
self sustaining. The start-up support it has
received so far in terms of technical assistance
and financial support has clearly generated
encouraging results, albeit diluted by temporary setbacks from natural causes. Many of the
factors affecting the production setting cannot
or can only be partially addressed by a development project.
A case could be made to seek closer collaboration between research collaborations and development projects, with research on policy and
micro- and macro-decision frameworks, and
technical features being helpful to create an
enabling environment for development projects in the long-term. Privatisation of all parts
of the seaweed production and marketing process remains a target on the agenda in search of
longer-term viability.
Further reading:
Adams, T.J.H., 1997. Governance of fisheries
and aquaculture in the Pacific Islands
region. pp. 165-180 IN Anon, 1997. ACP-EU
Fisheries Research Initiative. Proceedings of
the Third Dialogue Meeting, Caribbean,
Pacific and European Union. Belize, Belize
City, 5-10 December 1996. Brussels, ACP-EU
Fish.Res.Rep., (3)
FAO, Fishery Information Data and Statistics
Unit, 1997. Aquaculture production statistics 1985-1994. FAO Fish.Circ., 815 (Rev.9):
195 p.
Juanich, G.L., 1988. Manual on seaweed farming. 1. Eucheuma spp. Manila, ASEAN /
UNDP / FAO Regional Small-Scale Coastal
Fisheries Development Project, ASEAN/
SF/88/Manual, (2):25 p.
Foscarini, R. & J. Prakash, 1990. Handbook on
Eucheuma seaweed cultivation in Fiji. Suva
(Fiji), Ministry of Primary Industries / FAO
/ South Pacific Aquaculture Development
Proj., GCP/RAS/116/JPN, 47 p. ■
Instruction from technical assistant in tying seed material on line before planting offshore on farm Instruction sur la façon de ficeler les jeunes plants avant de placer les rayons au large (Foto: courtesy
Michael P. Tinne)
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Septembre 1997