First of Three Parts
Men in small wooden boats come in from a day of harvesting seaweed in the Celebes Sea off of a small island in the Philippines.
They hand their fresh harvests to women who carefully carry the heavy bunches up rickety wooden ladders to stilt houses teetering over the sea. Imilita Mawaldani Hikanti, along with a group of other women processors, then begin to prepare it for sale to support their families.
To many people, the importance of seaweed isn’t as obvious as that of fish catches or harvested crops. But for producers on the island province of Tawi-Tawi in the far south of the Philippines, farming agal-agal, the local name for Eucheuma and Kappaphycus seaweeds, isn’t just a way of life—it is their life.
“I learned seaweed farming at a young age. Both my parents and the family of my spouse were skilled seaweed farmers as well. It has always been our primary means of livelihood in this locality,” says Imilita.
Challenges like increased cases of plant diseases and the state of the local market for seaweed, however, make this handing down of livelihoods look less likely to continue in Tawi-Tawi.
The province—dubbed the “Seaweed Capital of the Philippines”—produces around 40 percent of the country’s 600 000-ton annual output. It has primarily been for export to make carrageenan, a gelling agent used in food processing.
(To be continued)
