Aiming to contribute to a more sustainable seaweed production, IRGSC’s researchers have conducted preliminary research on seaweed cultivation in Savu Island villages highlighting a crucial problem of seaweed seedlings availability. As this problem directly impacts the household economy of the farmers in the island, the current approach to the problem could potentially harm the Savu’s intertidal zones. Failing to maintain the survivability level of the seedling during the west monsoon makes the seaweed cultivation is not as equitable as the farmers expected. The farmers then need to buy seedling, to start every cultivation season, at the highest price while selling it later on at relatively lower prices. The short window time for optimal and with less seasonal risks make farmers unable to generate income that is sufficient to cover their annual expenditure. Thus, farmers are prone to get drown in debt-traps.
Our research team co-led by Pelipus Libu Heo (specializing in Coastal Area Management) and Stevie Tualaka (specializing in and Agricultural Biotechnology) has developed an innovative scenario on combining on-site (in the water) and off-site seaweed cultivation. This scenario is based on our climate risks and vulnerabilities assessment towards the seaweed cultivation activities. The scenario as well as the design of the cultivation system were presented to farmers in Molie, Hawu Mehara (22. Our team will test out the scenario and design together with the seaweed to make the system as suitable as possible to the day-to-day realities and decision making of the farmers in Savu island. We aim to contribute to a more sustainable