Davao soon to become major seaweed supplier

Davao is expected to become one of the country’s major suppliers of dried seaweed to domestic and foreign markets within the next three to five years.
Senior adviser Tetsuo Inooka of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said he wants to see the new seaweed industry in Davao able to produce in “commercial” quantities in the near future to meet the growing demand in the global market.
The seaweed industry cluster group has already designed a floating module for the production of seaweed along the coastal areas of Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte’s Samal Island, and Davao Oriental, according to industry chairman Domingo Ang, president of Marina Tuna Corporation.
Ang said the seaweed industry group is ready to implement the construction of 10 production modules after JICA approved the funding of the project recently.
One module in this initial project can produce 18,000 kilos of seaweed every 45 days with eight harvests yearly or some 144 metric tons annually, according to Ang.
“There’s a lot of promise in these modules, that’s why we’re going all the way in doing this commercially.” Ang said.
Each module consists of a series of floating twines where seaweeds are grown under the water and a wide platform of bamboo slats called the “solar dryer” supported by concrete posts where newly-harvested wet seaweed is dried first before packing.
Inooka said he wants to see the industry group develop enough “sustainability” to be able to increase their production modules even up to 100 module units producing around 14,400MT yearly in coastal areas of the Davao region.
Dried seaweed is highly in demand by processing plants in Zamboanga, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao which turn them into carrageenan powder, a gelling and blending agent used in making thousands of industrial and consumer products worldwide.
The Philippines is one of the world’s major exporters of semi-refined and food-grade carrageenan powder to North American and European markets.
JICA has been assisting seaweed farmers in the Davao region since last year to organize themselves into cooperatives or associations, provide them with funds for needed facilities, technical assistance, and series of trainings and workshops to boost their production capacities under the Davao Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (DICCEP), a joint project of JICA and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) supported by academe, local government units and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).  

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