Support Indonesian Seaweed Farmers through Capital and Assistance

PT Kliring Berjangka Indonesia (KBI) continues to show its seriousness in supporting farmers, especially related to seaweed cultivation. After previously providing support through the Warehouse Receipt System mechanism, this time KBI`s effort is to provide capital and assistance to seaweed farmers in Lontar Beach, Serang, Banten. “The effort that KBI is running is of course in an effort to realize KBI`s role as part of a state-owned enterprise to become an accelerator of community economy. We hope that with this capital and assistance, seaweed farmers can improve their cultivation results, which will ultimately improve their family`s economy,” said Executive Vice President of PT Kliring Berjangka Indonesia, Andi Patriota Wibisono in his statement, Thursday (4/5/2023). The program that KBI is running is also part of the Social and Environmental Responsibility (TJSL) program that has been running. For this initial stage, KBI provides capital and assistance to 10 farmers, who will work on 160 stretches of Gracilaria seaweed plants. One stretch of seaweed has a length of 30 meters and can produce 80 kilograms of seaweed. The seaweed cultivation cycle is 45 days from planting to harvesting. Gracilaria seaweed is a type of seaweed that lives in tropical waters. The derivatives of this type of seaweed are widely used in industry and pharmacy, as well as for making agar-agar. Related to seaweed commodities, Indonesia which has a vast ocean has great potential for this commodity. According to the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, in 2021 Indonesia`s seaweed production reached 9.12 million tons. Andi Patriota Wibisono added that this program will provide certainty and sustainability for seaweed farmers. This is because from the existing harvest results, some will be sold and generate income for farmers, and the rest will be seeds for the next planting. “In the future, KBI will continue to realize programs that have a direct impact on the community, which will all be carried out through the Social and Environmental Responsibility program,” he explained. Nasan, one of the farmers who received assistance from KBI said, “We are certainly very helped by this program from KBI. In the future we can continue to develop production capacity which will certainly increase income. In addition, we can continue to run this seaweed cultivation, because there is availability of seeds for the next planting season. We hope that the program run by KBI can be sustainable and can be followed by other state-owned enterprises”.