The Ministry of Industry is determined to carry out downstream potential commodities from Indonesia, namely seaweed as a natural wealth and is abundant in coastal areas. Doddy Rahadi as The Head of The Standardization and Industrial Services Policy Agency (BSKJI), revealed that this effort was made to meet the high export market of seaweed. “Seaweed cultivation has become the main occupation for most coastal communities, especially in West Seram Regency, Maluku,” he said in a written statement.

He conveyed that the potential of seaweed cultivation land in Maluku Province reached 19,509.29 hectares. However, the newly used land in the West Seram area is only about 929.0 hectares, then the East Seram District (140 hectares), and the Aru Islands District (1,587 hectares). In order to optimize the land, BSKJI implements the 2022 DAPATI program for the Maluku region through the development of local industries for seaweed commodities. “Among them, they are members of the Rurehe seaweed cultivation group in West Seram Regency, with the ability to produce seaweed of 8 to 9 tons per year,” he said. Rahadi said seaweed commodities have potential export markets to several countries, including Japan, China, Taiwan, Australia, United States, and United Kingdom. He emphasized that the quality of seaweed is one of the most important indicators for agricultural products for the export market. The quality of seaweed is influenced by three important things; cultivation techniques, harvest age, and drying process.
The DAPATI program developed by the Ministry of Industry is the provision of industrial consulting services to overcome the problems faced by the Rurehe seaweed cultivation group. This program aims to improve the efficiency, productivity, added value, competitiveness, and independence of the domestic industry. Besides that, Ambon Standardization and Industrial Services Center (BSPJI Ambon) carried out a technical assistance and assistance program for the Rurehe seaweed cultivation group to improve the quality of seaweed drying efforts. Prior to that, a farmer group in Nuruwe Village, West Seram Regency, carried out a manual drying process and produced poor quality. With the existence of the program which building a drying house with an acrylic roof and walls using UV plastic, the drying process can be carried out faster than before, about 2-3 days at normal temperature, and when it rains the seaweed remains protected, especially from dust and insects, so that the hygiene and safety of the results are maintained. Moreover, it can improve the quality of the dried seaweed produced and increase the competitiveness of Rurehe seaweed.

Source: https://www.validnews.id/ekonomi/kemenperin-dukung-percepatan-hilirisasi-rumput-laut-di-maluku