seaweed farmer and his son

March Seaweed & Sea Cucumber Sales

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Seaweed and sea cucumber sales are now taking place monthly in the Bay of Ranobe and the results are impressive. In the village of Betsibaroke, seaweed farmers had their first sale, and sold a whopping 2,402 kg of dried seaweed.  Together with the villages of Ifaty, Mangily and Ambolomailaky, over 5,000 kg of seaweed was harvested and sold in March.  For the sea cucumber farming villages of Andrevo and Ambolomailaky, almost 1,600 sea cucumbers were sold over two nights.  Combined, our Darwin Initiative funded alternative livelihoods project injected 3,073 USD (9,635,500 MGA) into the economies of these villages.

With such large scale success across the bay of Ranobe, it is sometimes easy to forget the impact that this project is
having at smaller scales.  With this in mind, we explored how alternative livelihood activities are reducing vulnerability and enhancing well-being in the Bay.  Ivana Rubino spoke with households engaged in seaweed and sea cucumber farming about their experiences, and we will be sharing these insights with you in the months to come.  The first account is of seaweed farmer Ferolle and his wife Vola.

 

Ferolle (33) and Vola (30)

Village: Ifaty

Occupation: Seaweed farmer and turtle fisher

“When I only relies on fishing I could come home with no fish,” Ferolle says.  “Life is easier now and is less tiring. Fishing is tiring but that is now a second activity after seaweed farming”.  Ferolle is a big man, and it easy to imagine him rowing his lakana (ocean-going pirogue) out of the Bay to find the big fish in the Mozambique Channel, or hauling in his large fishing nets.  He does not look like the sort of person to tire easily, and his comments speak more to the difficulty of fishing as a livelihood, than his personal stamina.  “I still fish three afternoons a week, (but) I am no longer worried about finding food.  I can always expect to get something at the end of the (seaweed) growing cycle”.

Ferolle and Vola have been farming seaweed since early 2015.  Ferolle grows the seaweed in the water while Vola dries the seaweed and takes care of the operation on land.  Their success at seaweed farming has allowed Ferolle to expand his experiences and he has received further training as a community seaweed technician.

“I always enjoyed seaweed farming, but being a technician is very cool”, he says.

As a community technician, Ferolle assists villagers that want to start farming seaweed.  He teaches them how to manage their seaweed ropes to grow the best seaweed, and how to solve any problems that might arise.  “I had the opportunity to learn, and now I have the opportunity to teach others”.

It is clear that Ferolle and Vola’s involvement in seaweed farming is improving their quality of life.  “Our extra IMG_2787 copyincome depends on what we produce every month but with the money we have made we can make provisions that we could not make before. We have more time and more money and can take care of our family better.  Things I didn’t have before or couldn’t afford, I now can have.”

For Ferolle, part of reason he enjoys seaweed farming is that culturally, it is similar to fishing.  “It is good to be able to combine farming and fishing.  The seaweed project could have been started a long time ago”, he says.  Ferolle identifies with the Vezo people of southwest Madagascar – those who make their livelihoods from the ocean.  The sea and fishing are integral parts of Vezo culture, and form their group identity.  “It fits with the Vezo lifestyle because it is not taking away part of being Vezo. It suits Vezo life”.  Ferolle and Vola’s success in seaweed farming is largely dependent on how well it conforms to the local culture.  “I enjoy it as a Vezo man”.

Story by Head of Aquaculture Cale Goulding & Interview by RD Comms Officer Ivana Rubino

Ifaty farmers with first seaweed

Seaweed Sales Across the Bay

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It was a busy month for seaweed farmers across the Bay of Ranobe in February, with sales taking place in four villages.

On Monday 15th, the village of Ambolamailaky celebrated their first seaweed sale since the Darwin Initiative-funded project was implemented there in October 2015. Twenty-two farming households sold a total of 858 kg of dried seaweed, an outstanding result for their first harvest.

Two days later, the village of Amboaboaky also experienced their first seaweed sale, with eight farming families presenting a combined yield of 338 kg of dried seaweed.  Although one of the smaller villages in the Bay of Ranobe, the farmers of Amboaboaky are proving themselves to be adept seaweed farmers, and they are excited about their future prospects as seaweed farmers. 

As the collection truck moved south along the bay, the village of Mangily was next in line to sell its seaweed.  These farmers have had four sales to date, however this was their first for 2016.  A total of 677 kg of seaweed were harvested, dried, and sold by 16 farmers.

Finally, came the village of Ifaty, where 14 households sold 672 kg of seaweed in the last sale of the month.  All the sales for February produced a combined harvest of 2545 kg of dried seaweed.

The farmers involved in the Darwin Initiative-funded alternative livelihoods project have been working consistently to understand how their seaweed grows, and to develop a deeper understanding of exactly how to care for their seaweed to attain the best results.  Their success so far is attributable not only to their hard work, but also their willingness to try something different.  While most of the farmers engaged in this project had heard of seaweed farming, most of them had never done it before.  Certainly, none of them had ever done it like this before.

While there are numerous methods of growing seaweed, in Madagascar the Off-Bottom Method, where seaweed is grown on ropes just off the seabed, is the most common.  Reef Doctor experimented with numerous growing techniques, and introduced the Long-Line Method to the farmers of the Bay of Ranobe.  This system uses floating ropes placed in deeper water, and consequently has numerous benefits.  Improved access to sunlight and nutrients allows for faster growth, alongside reduced competition with seagrass.  Farmers have access to their farms at any time, and can work from their boats, avoiding exposure to the harsh elements.  Additionally, the location of the farms is more flexible, avoiding any potential conflicts over access to the marine environment.  This technique has proven to be so favourable that the Long-Line Method is spreading to other seaweed producing regions throughout the SouthWest Madagascar, as word travels. 

Given the most recent harvest results, it is clear that the seaweed farmers in the Bay of Ranobe are taking to their new livelihoods.  Farmers are excited to be at the forefront of seaweed farming in Madagascar, gladly showing off their farms and the results of their dedication.  At Reef Doctor, we are excited to watch the seaweed farms grow, production increase, and communities develop.  It is a long road out of poverty, but for those fishermen now farming seaweed, the first steps have already been taken.

Story by Cale Golding (Senior Aquaculture Technician) & Ivana Rubino (RD Comms Officer)

sea cucumbers

Ambolamailaky Sea Cucumber Sale Success

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Story by RD Communications Officer Ivana Rubino

The village of Ambolamailaky had another successful sea cucumber sale on Tuesday 9th February, as part of Darwin Initiative-funded Alternative Livelihoods Programme.  It was a very busy sale because all of the 20 farming households in the village had a good harvest.

Spring tides occur directly after a new or full moon and bring the greatest difference between the high and low water levels. Sea cucumber sales take place during the spring tide because the pens are more exposed by the very low water levels. As the tide started to go out on Tuesday night the farmers set out for the sea cucumber pens. Each farmer opened their pens and collected the sea cucumbers in large basins. Once they had collected all the sea cucumbers that had reached sale weight, they were brought to the weighing station for processing.

Despite it being close to midnight when low tide occurred and the weighing began, the atmosphere was lively and everyone was in high spirits while the processing took place. Weighing takes place as quickly as possible so that all the sea cucumbers can be processed before the tide starts to come in again. By 2:30am the processing was complete and everyone left the farms to return to the village for a few hours sleep before 6am when the final stages of the sale took place and the farmers were paid for their crop.

A total of 971 sea cucumbers were sold. This generated an income of 4,389,000 MGA. The equivalent in US dollars is $1385, giving each household an approximate income of $69 USD or 21,9450 MGA since the last sale in December. Due to the high quantity of sea cucumbers reaching market size, sales will now take place in Ambolamailaky on a monthly basis – or more frequently if there is sufficient stock within the pens. This exciting development is further evidence that sea cucumber farming can be a sustainable and reliable source of income for the community, providing the farmers with security and hopefully an end to the daily struggle of rural poverty.

sea cucumber pen

Ministry of Fisheries Witnesses Andrevo Success

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Story by Cale Golding (Senior Aquaculture Technician) & Ivana Rubino (RD Comms Officer)

On Saturday 6th February representatives of the Pole Integres de Croissance (PIC – a government-funded project that aims to develop a better understanding of economics for already established projects and businesses in Madagascar), the General Director of the Ministry of Fisheries of Madagascar – Monsieur Gilbert, and the Director of Fisheries for Toliara – Monsieur Emilson, visited the village of Andrevo to meet with sea cucumber farmers and see their Darwin Initiative-funded aquaculture project first hand.

The farmers of Andrevo, together with representatives of ReefDoctor explained how the sea cucumber farming project works and gave a tour of the debarcadere, where sea cucumber sales take place in the village. The visitors were also shown the location of the farm and were interested in understanding the dynamics of the project. They were especially impressed with the sustainable earning potential of the farming model.

This visit comes at a time when Andrevo and its farmers are really starting to make substantial strides forward in sea cucumber farming and in lifting themselves out of poverty. Just two weeks after a record sale from which the community earned 6.6 million MGA collectively, another sale on Monday 8th February generated a further 2.5 million MGA. This means that Andrevo’s farmers have earned approximately 15 times their usual income since November 2015, and since November 2014, the inception of the project, they have earnt almost $2 USD per day. Some of the farmers have used this income to replace the vondro roofs of their homes with corrugated iron, which is more durable than the vondro reeds that degrade quickly and offer little protection from the elements. Other farmers can now send their children to school, an opportunity they would not have been able to afford otherwise.

More significantly, the farmers are planning ahead and managing their farms with an eye to a sustainable future and continuous income. This latest sale and its incredible result just two weeks after a bumper crop, is a very positive indication that sea cucumber farming can provide a sustainable and improved future for these farmers and the community.

building sea cucumber pens

Sea cucumber farming raises households out of poverty

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Story by Cale Golding and Oriana Wouters (Aquaculture Team), and Ivana Rubino (RD Comms Officer)

The small fishing community of Andrevo in the Bay of Ranobe celebrated their third crop of farmed sea cucumbers last week, with a record harvest. Five households sold 1639 sea cucumbers in total, generating over 6.6 million MGA (6,626,500 MGA to be exact). That is $2063 USD!  This is the equivalent of each household earning $6.88 USD a day since their last harvest in November 2015.

These sums represent a very successful sale that will allow the community to buy food for their families. In the long term the sale is another significant step forward in bringing this community out of poverty by providing the farmers with a financial reserve to enable them to plan and invest in future stocks and equipment for their farms. They can also draw on this reserve in times of hardship.  Everyone is working towards a time when sea cucumber farming will prove to be a permanent alternative livelihood to ensure that the farmers will no longer need to rely on fishing to feed their families, which in turn will reduce pressure on already over fished stocks in the Bay of Ranobe.

This Darwin Initiative-funded project was established with the aim of lifting families out of poverty.  The excellent results from this latest sea cucumber sale indicate that this being achieved, allowing households more freedom to plan ahead, not only with regard to their farms, but also in relation to education, health, nutrition and improving their overall quality of life. Sea cucumber farming is also contributing to gender equality in the Bay of Ranobe, as many of the farmers are women who have, for the first time in their lives for many, access to their own income and earning power.

While farmers were given assistance to build their pens and purchase juvenile sea cucumbers in the initial stage of the project, they are now in a position to contribute to the purchasing of juveniles, and complete the farming cycle.  This is a significant development in allowing the farmers involved to be independent and self-sustaining at the project’s conclusion, ensuring that communities are lifted out of poverty, and stay out.  The motivation and hard work of every member of each household is clearly evident from the results of the sale.

Now that the first batch of stocked sea cucumbers is within market size, harvests can continue regularly every month, ensuring that households receive continuous income.  For the vulnerable fishing communities of the Bay of Ranobe, this financial security affords a greatly improved quality of life and relieves some of the burden on the coral reef ecosystem.

The sea cucumber farmers and everyone at ReefDoctor are very pleased with the results of the third sale. It is a welcome milestone on the road to the alleviation of poverty and a better standard of living for the people of Andrevo.