Seaweed farmers urged to avail of ACEF funds

CEBU, Philippines — Seaweed industry players in the Philippines are encouraged to take advantage of the P5 billion funds provided by the government under the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) lending program to help the industry regain its position as leading seaweed producer in the world.

Senator Cynthia A Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, made this call yesterday during the Philippine Seaweed Congress held at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casinos.

Villar said amid the challenges made by seaweed farmers and producers, including climate change, competition, and erratic production performance, among others, industry players should also be quick in reaching out to the government, as there are a number of programs and even financial grants waiting to be utilized.

Villar cited the ACEF program as something seaweed farmers can avail of to boost their production.

ACEF aims to increase the productivity of farmers and fisherfolk by providing the necessary credit to cooperatives and associations, and micro and small-scale enterprises, for the acquisition and establishment of production, postharvest, and processing machinery, equipment and facilities.

The Land Bank of the Philippines manages the credit facility funded out of the Fund and shall determine the eligibility requirements and set the required loan security or collateral and reasonable interest for the loan.

The seaweed sector, which exports 90 percent of its total production, Villar said would also expect favorable bills that will be crafted to boost the aquatic resources, including seaweed farming.

Villar also mentioned the importance of providing funds for research and development, education—teaching farmers to adopt modern farming methods.

Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines (SIAP) chairman emeritus Maximo Ricohermoso said that climate change, the unpredictable weather cycle resulted to dwindling production.

This is the major concern faced by seaweed producers or farmers at this time, together with problems in competition.

Since 2004, the production of the raw seaweed as well as the semi-refined has been declining due to quality problem and the pricing structure.

The seaweed industry used to provide livelihood to more than 250,000 farmers. Now, this figure has been drastically reduced to about 100,000 and still going down.

Likewise, the demand for refined and semi-refined carrageenan has phenomenally grown for the past 20 years or so.

“The urgent concern of the industry right now is how to keep up with the demand, as our production is affected by changing weather pattern,” said Ricohermoso. (FREEMAN)