A spokesman of Babel`s marine and fisheries office, Fhores Fherado, said here on Thursday seaweed had a high economic value and if cultivated on a large scale could improve the welfare of the fishermen`s community in the province.
"We have so far cultivated around 25,000 tons of seaweed in the provincial waters but we have a target to increase it by one million tons by 2015," Fhores Fherado said.
To realize the cultivation of one million tons of seaweed in Babel waters, he said groups of fishermen in every region of the province had been empowered by giving them guidance on how to grow seaweed commercially.
Fhores said seaweed can be harvested three times a year with a net yield of Rp7 million to Rp10 million per hectare, or Rp25,000 to Rp50,000 per kilogram.
"Therefore, we will continue to develop seaweed cultivation in Babel province because it has high economic value for the welfare of coastal area dwellers," Fhores said, adding it was ethnically not difficult to grow seaweed.
(Uu.O001/HAJM/P003)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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