Quedancor allots P50-M for lending to seaweed farmers

The Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. has earmarked P50 million for lending to seaweed farmers of Mindanao to ensure a faster growth for the carageenan industry in the country.

Quedancor president and chief executive officer Nelson C. Buenaflor told members of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ) that the credit facility was an offshoot of directives by President Arroyo during the last Mindanao Business Council, where she particularly cited the financing needs of small seaweed farmers in coastal areas of the South.

He said each farmer can apply for P15,000 financing for expanding their existing seaweeds areas. The amount does not include acquiring bancas to go to deeper waters for seaweed farming.

Similarly, Marissa Caparaz, assistant vice president of Quedancor for Systems Planning Division, said the agency has lent out P244.65 million to 58,000 borrowers since 1999. Some of the funds lent came from the Fisheries Sector Program of BFAR being administered by the Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines and the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) but which have been transferred to Quedancor.

Also at the Fish Talk forum of PAJ, Director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) explained that his agency is paving the way for commercial fishers to venture into other areas of the Pacific Ocean, which have not been exploited through the years. He was referring to the Samar-Leyte side and Cagayan in Region 2, which have largely been untapped but which recent capture activities hauled 11 tons in one catch.

Sarmiento said for the first six months this year, the fisheries sector produced 1.7 million metric tons so that by the end of this year, we expect production to reach 3.4 to 3.5 million metric tons, surpassing last year’s three million metric tons output. Again, he said, the sector will be the lead contributor to the entire agriculture sector growth.

Another panelist, Pete Borja, public relations director of Shemberg Corp., the country’s leading seaweed producer, processor and exporter, said the Philippines continues to be the leading producer of raw seaweeds (eucheuma) but is only fourth largest in terms of production of carageenan (processed form) with the first three being two American companies and the third a Danish company, which have all put up buying stations in Mindanao.

He also dispelled talks that the seaweed industry has reached a plateau saying that in fact it will continue to grow at the rate of five to eight percent a year in the next few years.

And despite the difficulties suffered by Philippine carageenan exporters to the US and the United Kingdom, these countries are now opening up to us after we have proved to them that our seaweeds are not toxic and contain safe levels of lead, iron and cadmium.

Borja also called attention to the smuggling of seaweeds to Indonesia in view of currency devaluation in that country, which has made it very lucrative for farmers to ship out their way materials to that country for processing. "If this goes on unabated, Indonesia will be our competitor in the world market for carageenan," he said.