Strengthening capacity of small holder ASEAN aquaculture farmers for competitive

and sustainable aquaculture

Training Specialist Report Prepared based on visit to project sites and review of the reports

Dr. M.C.Nandeesha Advisor

Centre for Aquaculture Research and Development St. Xavier's, Bishramganj-799103, Tripura, India

mcnraju@yahoo.com : mcnraju@gmail.com

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Table of Contents

Sl.No Contents Page No 1 Executive summary 2 2 Project synthesis 4 3 Review of the Thailand report and suggested frame work 7 4 Review of the Cambodia report and suggested frame work 13 5 Review of the Vietnam report and suggested frame of work 18 6 Review of the Philippines report and suggested frame of work 24 7 Review of the Indonesian Report and suggested frame of work 35 8 Travel itinerary 45

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Executive summary The project on "Strengthening the capacity of small holder ASEAN aquaculture farmers for competitive and sustainable aquaculture" aims at building capacity of farmers by addressing the problems in the areas of market access, food safety issues, building organization, access to information, credit and technical issues confronted on the identified commodities. The project uses the approach of building the capacity of trainers from the Fisheries Departments of the ASEAN countries and encourage them to train farmers on the identified commodities and issues in the selected countries. Overall, the project aims at improving the capability of small farmers as well as improving the sustainability of aquaculture. In the inception workshop held on 5-6th August, 2008, with the participation of countries, namely Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia agreed to undertake testing of the above ideas. Though Cambodia could not take part, NACA project team made a visit to that country and appraised of the developments in the workshop and invited to join the project. The representative commodities selected for the include tilapia in Thailand, snakehead fish culture and fish seed network in Cambodia, shrimp culture in Vietnam, Sea weed culture in Philippines and sea bass and grouper culture in Indonesia. The experimental site selections were also identified by the National teams. A set of guidelines were developed and agreed in the workshop to undertake the needs analysis on the selected commodities in the respective countries. The Training Specialist (TS) made visits to all the five countries and met with the project team to discuss the report prepared by them and help the teams in gathering additional information necessary considering the designed project objectives on the chosen commodities. The project teams have been provided with suitable advice to complete the report on needs analysis by filling the missing gaps. As the material generated through the needs analysis and other information gathered were not enough to work on the TOT with the National Teams, a broad framework to develop the draft training of trainers manual has been provided along with the tasks that need to be completed for each of the commodity. The teams in Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia have used both the focus group discussion as well as quantitative survey approaches to identify the needs while in Thailand and Cambodia, largely focus group discussion has been used to generate the information. Since the reports at present provide broad overviews on the commodities, teams have been suggested to narrow down their approach to specific issues that need to be tackled for the commodity selected on the identified issues since such information is necessary to develop the training of trainers manual. If the valuable information generated in Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia collected through quantitative survey are analyzed and included in the report, it will provide substantial information and the basis for the TOT. Specifically, the National teams need to identify the technical problems encountered, operational efficiency of the systems by understanding the profitability, current scale and level of access to market information, existing market channels, availability of finance to carry out the activity, types and roles of the existing farmer organizations, if any, etc. It is also agreed that the National teams make an effort to identify the pathways to address the problems identified under the given national circumstances and suggest measures. The revised technical needs analysis report combined with the draft TOT is proposed to be used to develop a

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common TOT for all the five countries and commodities on the identified generic issues. The training manual for farmers is proposed to be developed using the TOT material in a simplified language to meet the specific needs of each commodity. If the TNA and the draft TOT are completed as proposed, the TOT can be held thereafter in Bangkok on the identified generic issues. This opportunity can also be used to improve the draft TOT prepared by each country and help them to implement the training for farmers. Based on the lessons learned, the year end / early 2010 would be suitable to organize the regional policy level workshop to influence the countries in the region for further testing / scaling up the ideas. It is essential that the communication with the National Teams is maintained with the provision of necessary support to complete the tasks as envisaged. The major output of this project is the identification of the actual needs in various for the commodities identified and developing the training manual. It is anticipated that the experienced in testing ideas to the identified problems can be shared in the regional policy level workshop for further action.

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Strengthening the capacity of small holder ASEAN aquaculture farmers for competitive and sustainable aquaculture

With a view to provide a glimpse of the project, this section is prepared from the original

project document. Project purpose The project is a capacity building intervention to raise awareness and build capacity among small scale ASEAN aquaculture farmers and assist them to become or remain competitive in markets, in line with the ASEAN vision. Identified problems in ASEAN aquaculture

(a) Poor physical access to markets by small farmers (b) Poor market structures (c) Lack of skills, organization and information (d) Increasing food safety standards (e) Lack of effective servicing – extension, credit, insurance, quality assurance, marketing, etc

Potential solutions

(a) Training small scale farmers in building and operating farmer organizations (b) Training in better aquaculture farming practices ,business and management (c) Development of responsive and quality servicing systems for small scale aquaculture

sector (d) Raise policy issues relevant to ASEAN to increase competitiveness of farmers.

With a view to address the above problems, the project is formulated with the following five objectives

(1) To refine understanding of key capacity building needs of small scale aquaculture for competitiveness

(a) TNA would help to understand constraints to competitiveness as well as opportunities for

small scale aquaculture farmers in ASEAN in achieving market access (b) Applying food safety standards and adopting regional and international standards along

five market chains (c) Assessment would help in building needs of technical, business and organizational

capacity of farmers (2) To prepare training materials for ASEAN small holder farmers to assist in

supporting small scale aquaculture farmers to organize and promote market access, competitiveness and BMP among small holders

(a) The training material will be generic materials for widespread dissemination

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(b) The material will be practical and targeted at implementation of training by Govt agencies, NGOs and farmer sector organisations

(c) Training will include practical examples from ASEAN (d) Training materials will be developed in local languages, based on ASEAN regional

concepts and standards required for harmonization and competitiveness (3) To build capacity in support servicing institutions (a) conduct TOT that will involve service providers from Government and private sectors (b) provide knowledge and skills to organize and manage farmer groups and establish and

operate one stop aqua shops (c) Other serving techniques for improved farming, access to production technology and

information and market access (d) The results will help in refining the training materials as well as provide lessons and

examples for wider dissemination (4) To conduct farmer training (a) to strengthen the capacity of farmers to organize and operate effectively SHGs or formal

associations (b) to help test and refine the training materials which shall be consolidated and developed in

to a training manual for use by Govt agencies, civil society organizations and development agencies

(c) Trainers trained under objective 3 will be responsible for conducting farmer training (5) To conduct a regional policy workshop on "Small holder aquaculture in ASEAN (a) Will review and highlight the findings and raise the profile of the importance of small scale

sector (b) will develop strategies to support the livelihoods of small holder fish farmers within the

context of ASEAN vision for Socio-economic development and competitiveness

Requirements (a) Status of the current situation of the commodity in terms of technologies practiced ,

marketing of the products including the presence of any farmer organizations (b) TNA being done and identify the potential areas for training – technical, business and

organizational (c) Currently available training materials produced by the service providers, if any Outcome (a) Training materials to be developed will focus on better management practices, to reduce /

eliminate the risk (b) Provide guidelines to develop farmer organizations and build capacity of farmers to

approach the farming as a business enterprise by having access to information, credit, market

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(c) The training materials developed can used as part of the national programs or programs developed to test and further refine the suggested practices

Inception workshop In the inception workshop, based on the discussion held with the country representatives, following commodities have been chosen in each of the five countries selected for the study (a) Thailand – Tilapaia culture in ponds and cages (b) Cambodia – Snakehead culture and fish seed producers network (c) Vietnam – Shrimp (d) Philippines – Sea weed (e) Indonesia – sea bass and groupers Based on the agreement reached in the inception workshop, participants were asked to identify locations to carry out the study. A detailed guideline were also developed for the collection of information and each country was suggested to use the best possible tools to get the information from farmers, develop training manual and test its application. TNA was agreed to be completed by the country team that participated in the workshop and submit the report. Based on the report submitted, Training Specialist undertook the task of examining the reports with a view to identify whether the teams have generated the data necessary for developing the training village.

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Suggested way forward to develop training manual for tilapia with focus on increasing competitiveness of small farmers in Thailand

Background The report prepared by the Thailand team provides idea on the broader aspects of tilapia market situation in Thailand. Following the discussion with the DOF team on 11th Feb, 09, on 12th Feb, 09, a field visit was arranged to see the cage culture of tilapia in Ang Thong area. This provided an opportunity to interact with a cage farmer and visit fish market in the evening along with the Department of Fisheries staff. Farmers culturing tilapia in the pond could not be visited. The visit provided an opportunity to gain some information on the way cage culture activity is carried out by farmers under the constant risk of problems, largely related to disease outbreaks and heavy loss of fish, almost on a regular basis. Though the potential for the cage culture activity appeared very good, farmers are always under the constant threat of disease and loss, often resulting in the debt being carried by them from one crop cycle to another to crop cycle. In the process who gains and who loses needs to be examined carefully to identify the intervention areas. Though the farmer we met was investing his own money to buy the inputs, it was learnt that many farmers are given materials on credit by the traders and they procure the commodity once the crop is harvested. In case of crop loss, farmers are allowed to pay back the amount in the subsequent crop. The risk is always for the farmer to bear. Moving forward The system of cage culture activity and possibly the pond culture activity carried out by farmers in the area have issues that need to be specifically identified in both qualitative and quantitative terms in to order to develop the training manuals that can help to address the problems specifically confronted by the farmers. Hence, the training need analysis should be done by following the draft guidelines provided in the Annex 4 of the inception report that provides clear information on the purpose of the project as well as the guidelines for the needs assessment with a view to develop practical training manuals. Annex 6 – provide the framework that can be used to gather information on each of the work program that will help to identify the problems / needs on each of the five work program anticipated from the project. The Department of Fisheries has technical manuals that provide information on culture technology and disease management. This information has to be considered while designing the new training material and use the useful information in the new manual with the addition of material that will help to address the problems related technology, access to market, information, credit, farmer organizations, etc. Hence, additional information may be gathered on the following aspects

(a) Farm production strategies as practiced at present in both cages and ponds : the information gathered should help in understanding specifically the present input in to the

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system, production levels obtained, expenses incurred including the family labour, profit derived, problems encountered in terms of disease, feed, water quality, food safety issues, etc.

- It would be good to gather specific information by selecting good number of case studies to

generate the data both in quantitative and qualitative terms. The information generated can be written up as a technical output for presentation in the workshop to be organized at the end of the project as project output along with the impact made through this project along with the lessons learned. Hence, better planning at this stage will serve the dual purpose.

- The key areas identified can be used to develop the training manuals that can help

farmers through potential pathways to reduce the risk in terms of the issues raised. (b) Market and marketing: Tilapia market appears to be well developed and dynamic with the

direct interest of super markets as well as the importing countries in the product. By understanding the market chain prevailing in the system, it would be possible to suggest ways. If the system is working well with thin margin, we do not need to intervene that may have impact on farmers. Hence, it is important to understand the market chain and the price spread with a view to understand how much the farmer derives from the consumer price.

- The information can be used in the training manual to describe the market structure and

educate farmers and the traders on the link. If there are opportunities to help farmers to improve their profitability by suggesting alternate marketing strategies, they can be developed in consultation with farmers and placed for experimentation.

- The good practices, if any in the system can also serve as example to other commodities. (c) Strengthening of farmer organizations: It was learnt that at present there are groups

organized by farmers among the cage culturists. It would be useful to understand the way they are organized and operate. It is also necessary to look at the types of organzations, if any with the farmers involved in tilapia culture in ponds.

- If the organizations are working efficiently, we can document and present in the training

manuals for others to emulate. If there are areas that can be suggested to improve them, such potential improvements can be suggested for exploration through the training manuals.

- increased access to information could be one of the potential areas that can be explored

by using the farmer organizations - the groups can also be best utilized to reduce risks in terms of environment - Improve product quality to get the better market price

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(d) Identify the existing training manuals produced by the Fisheries Department as well as others and examine whether any of the existing manuals meet the issues identified in the needs analysis. If such information is already available and not used, it would be worth to examine the reasons and make an attempt to address those problems in the new manual to be developed.

(e) The new training manual to be developed would focus on building the capacity of farmers

by improving the operational efficiency of the system by suggesting BMPs, improving better access to markets by producing safe food product and building farmer organizations that can help to address the problems through collective efforts and bring greater benefits to all .

Following stages are suggested in the production chain on which the need assessment should be focused (this is largely based on Annex 4)

Farm operation

(a) Whether aquaculture is the primary source of income to meet the family livelihood necessities. If there are other sources of income, what is the percent contribution of aquaculture in the total family income?

(b) Size of pond /cage units operated by the families. Major farm tools used like aeration pumps, water pumps, etc. Total investment cost on the farm.

(c) Seed source: Type of seed used – red or normal tilapia; mono sex or normal tilapia used in the culture operation; source of seed for cages and pond culture; criteria used to assess the seed quality, if any. Cost of seed used per culture cycle.

(d) Fertilizers: types and total quantity of each type of fertilizer used in the system; source of fertilizer and how it is delivered in to the farm and the cost involved on fertilizer / culture cycle.

(e) Feed input: What is the type of feed used – on farm produced or company feed. What is the total quantity used per cycle; are there any problems in getting the quality feed; issues related to storage of feed, etc. What is the total amount spent on feed in one culture cycle.

(f) Problems encountered: types of diseases encountered; treatment methods adopted; water quality problems encountered and strategies adopted to overcome the problems. Costs involved in treating the disease or water quality problems.

(g) Number of people operating on the farm: part time; full time and family labour. Labour cost paid to hired labour / culture cycle. Imputed value of the family labour in the culture cycle.

(h) Credit borrowed to run the activity and the interest paid / culture cycle. (i) Electricity and water charges, if any/ culture cycle. (j) What is the gender role in production process – focus on how the men, women and

children play the role in the activity. (k) What kind of training have been received by the farmers and who have attended such

trainings – whether trainings included single person from the family or did it involve training of both husband and wife.

(l) Total fish Production obtained and the price received in the immediate past culture cycle.

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When the information is collected, also focus to assess the impact of the activity

(a) on the environment and vice versa (b) In creating job opportunity (c) Producing food – its quality and safety

Possible outputs from the above data (a) calculate the profitability of the system and the system role in the family livelihood (b) Identify the major risks involved in the culture operation Suggest ways to increase profitability and reduce risks

Farmer organizations

(a) How are they formed, if they exist at present; membership strength; meeting schedules; calendar of activities

(b) Whether farmer organizations are involved in trading the production of farmers to buyers. (c) What kind of information is received/collected by these organizations and how the

information collected is disseminated to its members (d) Whether the organizations are involved in saving and credit management activities. (e) How does the women play role in such organizations (f) Assets owned by the organization

Market structure

(a) Understand the current market chain and the price spread prevailing (b) Measure the extent to which farmers have been made as dependents by traders for

marketing of products (c) Examine the way by which farmers can be helped to get the best price for their product.

By using the above information generated, following draft outline for the training manual is proposed

(a) Chapter 1 : The present scenario that can best describe the present situation and the role played by tilapia culture in providing the much needed fish to people

(b) Chapter 2 : Describe the present culture operation and profitability obtained and problems encountered by farmers

(c) Chapter 3: Suggest the good management practices farmers can explore to address the problems by changing the management strategies, but with less or no risk. Consider food safety and environmental issues in this section.

(d) Chapter 4 : Present the market chain prevailing and propose alternate ways to increase benefits and product quality, if that would be useful

(e) Chapter 5: Present the existing farmer organizations, if any – describe ways to strengthen them by helping them to have better access to information, credit, markets, etc. Highlight the role of food safety issue and how farmer organizations can develop self governing rules and build reputation.

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In the need assessment process

(a) Identify issues that need research to find solutions (b) Policy issues that need consideration by the local or intergovernmental organizations

Looking forward to work with the Thailand team to accomplish the output as desired in the project

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Cage culture activity and the fish market visit on 12th February, 09 The cage culture of red tilapia, carried out by the enterprising farmers presents an opportunity on how water resources can be effectively utilized to earn the livelihood and produce the much needed food to people. It was reported that there are over 130 cage units carrying out the activity only in Ang Thong area and similar such units exists in many places. Farmers buy fingerlings from other farmers who nurse the seed to fingerling size for stocking in cages; utilize the feed available from the commercial companies to feed the fish and grow them for a period of about 4 months to reach the market size. The average size of the fish attained is about 800-1000 g. Farmers reported to obtain a food conversion ratio of about 1.5: 1 (feed to fish). Feed costs about 27 Baht /kg. Major problems encountered are the disease, resulting in heavy loss of fish on some occasions. Fish is sold at about 85 Baht /kg. By including various operational expenses, it is useful to see the profitability of the system operated by the farmers. It was also reported that there are farmer groups and each group consists of ten members. It would be useful to study the purpose for which they were formed, the way they operate. Fish Market is very dynamic and there re several layers in the trade of fish. Though the farmers can get over 100 Baht/kg, they tend to depend on the middlemen for the activity and sell the product on site for 85 Baht/kg. By understanding the local issues, better marketing strategies can be suggested. Training manuals The DOF has developed technical manuals to help the farmers on fish culture in cages, disease management, fish culture in ponds, etc. The information present in the technical manuals, coupled with the information generated (to be generated) based on the ground situation in regard to culture practices, measuring the profitability of the system, farmer organizations, marketing system, it would be useful to develop training manuals that may help in developing BMPs for each system by addressing the problems. It would be most useful to conduct in-depth needs analysis to develop the training manuals. If the business approach has to be built, it is important that all information related to the activity is available and based on such an information, training manuals are developed.

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Suggested way forward for developing the training manual for the commodities / issues identified by the Cambodian National Team

In the meeting held on 16th Feb, 09 with Mr. Pich Sereywath and Mr. Ouch Lang, it was agreed that snake head (Channa striatus) breeding and culture and Strengthening of fish seed producers network by improving quality seed production as the two topics on which the team would focus on developing the training manual. The above two topics being diverse in nature, based on the preliminary need assessment done by the National Team, Training Specialist assisted the National Team in identifying specific needs and the available indigenous knowledge and use such information along with the knowledge available on the topics from other countries in the region to develop the training manual that would bring benefits to farmers. To gather additional information, on 17th Feb, 08, visit to sites where snake head culture is carried out was made along with a visit to Kandal Fisheries Station where an experiment on snake head culture with CP feed is progressing. The observations made during the field visit are provided as an annexure to this report. Based on the visit and observations made, it was found that there are few farmers who have undertaken the culture of snake head and some are making good profits using the innovative ways to address the problem of disease, feed cost, etc. The National team which participated in the information collection and analysis process appreciated the new information generated by undertaking specific needs analysis and the availability of such indigenous information. With the time available, three snake head farmers could be visited and information gathered. Appreciating the value of generating such information by meeting with farmers in different localities, the Training Specialist has discussed with Pich Sereywath and Ouch Lang have designed following specific tasks for obtaining information that would be useful for the training manual as well as for the technical workshop proposed at the end of the project. Suggested /agreed steps for information collection on snakehead culture

(1) It is recommended to target at least from 20-30 farmers, chosen from different localities and involved in snake head culture (Channa traitus) to gather information on the culture practices followed.

(2) From each of the selected farmers, gather information on their livelihoods to reflect on how snake head culture is an important activity for the family: the extent of land owned; area of fish pond used for snake head; number of years of experience in the culture of snake head and other fishes; number of people in the family and the number of people involved in the activity; why the family have chosen snakehead as the species for culture.

(3) Year of pond construction; amount spent (4) What steps are adopted in pond preparation prior to stocking of seed? (5) The number of seed stocked; source of seed – artificially produced or naturally collected

from the fishing lot areas. The price paid for the seed.

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(6) Feeding strategy adopted: What is the type of feed used – trash fish or pellet feed; method of feed presentation – tray or broad cast method; frequency of feeding and quantity used each time; total quantity used / day

(7) How the feed quantity is altered during the culture period. Total quantity of feed used for the entire duration and the total cost on the feed.

(8) Disease problems encountered: symptoms of diseases noticed and the period; peak period of disease; types of disease management strategy adopted; extent of control accomplished and the cost involved.

(9) Water quality management strategy adopted: Number of hours water pumped everyday; amount of diesel spent; capacity of pump; discharge capacity of the pump used (liters /minute) or capacity of the pump used. Cost involved in pumping water every day. Investment made on the pump.

(10) Harvesting frequency and cost, if any: do they adopt partial / periodic harvest technique or harvest one time Cost involved in such harvests and total cost.

(11) Marketing strategy adopted: – where it is sold. What is the market chain and value - Producer price – middlemen price – consumer price?

(12) Type of chemicals used in the culture cycle other than those used in disease treatment mentioned earlier.

(13) What is the total cost involved in the whole culture cycle. How did they manage the money needed for the culture operation; interest paid, if any?

(14) How much is the profit earned by the farmer in each culture cycle. (15) What is the role of women in the culture operation? (16) What are the areas farmers desire support and how that can be organised according to

them? Do they recognise farmer organization as the possibility to ensure input supply and product marketing as a means?

(17) Any other information that will be useful to understand the activity carried out by the farmers.

Suggested framework for the snakehead breeding and culture manual

(1) Snake head role in the Cambodian food and various food items prepared from Snake head to highlight the importance of fish in Cambodian food and trade

(2) Raising quality brood stock for breeding (3) Breeding of fish using traditional methods and hormone injection (4) Nursing of fish seed (5) Pond preparation for the culture operation (6) Stocking and growth management with focus on feed (7) Maintaining water quality in pond (8) Disease prevention and management (9) Marketing strategy – partial harvest and linking directly with retail traders (10) Increasing production and profitability by involving women in fish culture management (11) Farmers group benefits in increasing access to inputs, markets and credit (12) Strategies to promote responsible fish farming by reducing trash fish usage and healthy

production of snakehead

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Note: (1) Training specialist would help in gathering information available on the above topics from

other Asian countries. (2) The draft training manual prepared would be used as a working document to improve it

through consultation process of various stakeholders and finalize the same to increase the competitiveness of farmers.

Strengthening fish seed producers network by improving their ability to produce quality seed The concept of decentralized seed production has gained prominence in Cambodia with 159 small scale seed producers, producing seed in different parts of Cambodia. These seed producers are engaged in producing 5-6 variety of fish cultured popularly by the farmers in Cambodia. Tilapia, silver carp, silver barb, common carp, Indian carp – mrigal, pangasius, snake skin gouramy, etc. Majority of the seed producers are spread in Takeo, Kompong Speu, Prey Veng and Kampot provinces. There are also seed producers in Siem Riep, Battambang, Svay Rieng provinces. At present large part of the fish seed requirement of small farmers is met from the production of these small farmers. Farmers with a small area, aim to produce large amount of fish seed, ultimately resulting in small size seed supplied to farmers that result in poor survival and growth. On the production side, seed producers have poor knowledge on brood stock maintenance, maintaining the genetic quality of the seed produced, nursing the seed in best way to get the best survival of seed. Providing big size seed to small farmers to ensure better survival in the grow out system, maintaining good water quality, access to credit, access to information, access to market, are the major issues confronted by the farmers. The seed Network established with the support of the Department of Fisheries and various NGOs, meets annually with the sponsorship support of the NGOs, at least in their project operational areas. JICA has provided support to bring farmers from 4 provinces during this year and the Network meeting was held from 18th to 20th Feb, 09 at the Bati Station. The information presented in the Network meeting provides an opportunity to develop training manuals that may best help the farmers. The Training Specialist attended the first day presentation involving the four provinces namely, Prey Veng, Kampot, Takeo and Kompong Speu. Nearly one hundred seed producers along with Department staff attended this three day event along with various NGOs involved in aquaculture development. Based on the need assessment made by the National team, presentation made in the seed producers workshop, field visits made to few of the seed producers in Prey Veng district, following way forward strategy is proposed to develop the training manual.

(1) Prepare a synthesized background information on the genesis of the seed producers network establishment and the present spread of the seed producers in various provinces using the map. The membership of each network, operational procedures including the process of election of officers may be described. Present also the membership fee charged and the financial strength of the network of each province.

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(2) Present a table that presents the name of the seed producer; number of ponds and total area of the farm; the type of breeding unit used; number of species bred; total quantity of each species sold in 2008. If species wise details are not available; indicate total number of seed sold. Include the mobile number of each seed producer, if available and possible.

(3) Indicate the type of Hormone used in each farm, quantity used, amount spent on hormone and how it was obtained.

From the above total information available, Take one example from each of the provinces where decentralized seed production is active as case study and carry out the detailed analysis – Suggested provinces are Takeo; Kompong Speu; Prey Veng; Kampot; Svay Rieng; Siem Riep Do the information collection through the phone and assess the operational efficiency of the farms by collecting the following information, if spot visit would not be possible to all areas. (a) Name of the farmer and year of establishment (b) Number of ponds; size range of ponds and total area under water in the farm; total

investment made on the farm including grants received, own investment. (c) Species bred in the farm during 2008 (d) Type of feed used for brood stock; if compounded feed is used, please indicate the source

and nutrient composition, if available; total quantity of feed used during the year for the brood fish. Total cost on the feed.

(e) Total Number of brood fish of each species bred (indicate total male and female); type hormone used and total qty used; total amount spent on hormone.

(f) Total quantity of spawn produced and stocked in to nursery pond (g) Type of management adopted in pond preparation and feed used; total qty and cost may

be indicated (h) Total seed sold of each species. Calculate the approximate survival rate for each species. (i) Total amount of manpower spent on the farm including family and hired labour for the

operation and the amount paid to the hired labour (j) Total qty of diesel used in the farm and the amount spent. (k) Qty of seed sold directly to farmers; qty sold to middlemen; qty sold to NGOs through

bidding (l) Ask the farmer on the profit obtained (m) Calculate the income and expenses for each of the farm based on the information you

have gathered. Generic frame work for the manual on increasing quality seed availability to farmers through seed producers and their network Technical issues

(a) Locating a seed farm – What are the criteria to be considered (b) Developing a small scale good seed farm – area needed, number of ponds required,

types of species that can be cultured (c) Removing turbidity and keeping the water green

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(d) Avoiding inbreeding problems – strategies that can be adopted on the farm (e) Maintaining quality brood fish through provision of good quality feed (f) Disease management in brood stock and nursing fish seed (g) Making early breeding plan (h) Breeding fish with various hormones and hatching plans (i) Preparing ponds for nursing of fish seed (j) Insects control in pond (k) Feeding the small size seed (l) Providing the right size and quality seed to farmers (n) Profitability of the breeding and nursing of fish seed units and their responsibilities to help

grow out farmers

Seed Producers Network and their role in increasing market access by assuring quality seed supply

(o) Existing network structures and their role (p) How the network can play effective role in maintaining seed quality and price (q) How networks increase farmers knowledge on aquaculture and increase their business (r) How can network create access to finance (s) Role of networks in increasing gender equality in seed production activity

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Suggested way forward to develop the technical report, training manual for trainers and the manual for farmers- VIETNAM

On 22nd Feb, 09, a detailed discussion on the report prepared by the National Team was held with the National Team Coordinator Ms. Nguyen Bang Tam and the key outputs expected from the project were agreed. On the following day, 23rd Feb, 09, the Deputy Director Dr. Nguyen Huy Dien was also met by the Training Specialist along with the National Coordinator and discussed about the report and the potential options available to address the problems encountered based on the lessons available within country itself- the Hama Ninh Commune experience. A field visit to Kim Trung Commune in Ninh Binh Province was made on 24th Feb, 09 and met with the staff of the Fisheries Department, Commune leaders and Farmers. A special meeting with farmers to understand their problems was also held on the forenoon of 24th Feb, 09 wherein more than 30 representative farmers participated. The meeting provided an opportunity to understand the problems confronted by the farmers, mainly on disease. Farmers stock seed without any check on the disease, stock seed at different times, feed stocked seed are fed with wild fish that may be carrying the virus, as a result farmers generally have the white spot and other diseases. The situation with small farmers appears to be very difficult and if the industry has to recover, community approach would be the good. We also met with a successful farmer culturing white leg shrimp. Based on the three days of interaction with the National Team and the observations made in the field, following strategy is suggested to move forward in this project and get the outputs.

(A) The report (1) The National Team has prepared a detailed report by following most of the guidelines provided in the inception report. The team has made an attempt to hold focus group discussion with various stake holders, gathered additional information from farmers by using structured survey format and collected all the relevant literature available in the country on the topic. All these information would be useful in planning the project activities and ensuring project outputs. (2) The selection of three sites, namely Kim Dung, Kim Trung and Ham Ninh province are interesting and contrasting. The results of the Ham Ninh province as compared to other two areas provide help in finding indigenous solution to the problems prevailing in the shrimp sector. Though the site visit could not be made because of the distance, the report describes several of the positive features of the site wherein disease problems have been well managed through the community organization and farmers have been able to get good production by overcoming various problems. (3) The present report can be improved and developed as a good technical report by analysing all the data gathered and presenting them in simple tables that help to understand the situation between the three areas. The following tables may be generated and included in the report

(a) A table to present the livelihood situation of the farmers in three areas that may include family size, land holdings, sources of income of the families studied education level of

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farmers, average area of land used by the family for shrimp culture, other agricultural activities undertaken by the family, etc. For practical reasons, if all the data would not have been gathered, it is advised to collect the information from the secondary sources and present the picture to highlight the role of shrimp in the livelihood.

(b) A table or chart to show how the communities are organised in three areas and the decision making process in regard to cultivation practices prevailing at present including the role of community organizations in places like Ham Ninh. Description of the existing community structures is very important to show the differences that can be brought through community organization, particularly taking the case of Ham Ninh Commune as an example.

(c) A table to provide information on three provinces on the present cultivation practices in regard to pond preparation strategies that include application of lime, fertilizers, stocking density, species used, feeding strategies adopted, quantity of feed used, chemicals and antibiotics used and quantity applied, culture period, quantity harvested and the farm gate price received may be included. All the data may be presented on per ha basis wherever necessary and possible.

(d) Based on the above technical information, calculate the cost of production by including other expenses like labour, electricity for the three areas to demonstrate the economics. The information generated already in Table 5 of the present report can be used to include depreciation value in the economics.

(e) Additional tables to show the differences in cost of feed, FCR data, percent farmers harvesting crops successfully in each area, farm gate price of shrimp, etc may be produced and included in the report.

(f) Prepare a table to indicate the types of diseases encountered in different areas and methodologies adopted by farmers in treating them

Access to information The communities met have informed the several training courses organised and attended by both husband and wife in the family on technical issues. The Department organises several trainings based on the need. The Department also has good linkage with various organizations including NACA and they would be able to outsource the required information necessary to help the farmers. Though the problems recognised in the communes are mainly technical, by comparing the situation of Kim Dong, Kim Trong and Ham Ninh communes, it is clear that Ham Ninh commune has been able to over come many of the technical problems through community organization. This is also reflected with the lessons learned in other countries like India through the NACA- MPEDA partnership program. It is necessary that such information on how the problems could be solved through community organization is effectively communicated to the Department staff as well as farmers. There is a need to document the experience of Ham Ninh commune as well as MPEDA-NACA experience – may be in the form of a film with Vietnamese language subtitle or with complete voice in the local language and give an option to the local people on how they can solve the problem by themselves. Hence, it is necessary to focus the TOT on community organization both through training and practical exposures to the situation, if possible. Community mobilization would be successful only when there is commitment by the leader(s) undertaking the task to mobilise the community. Use of

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participatory approaches coupled with transparency in resolving issues through open dialogue have been the corner stones in all successful community mobilizations and changing the attitude of staff and community would be first approach needed. In view of the above, at the present time, the report may try to examine the issues in Ham Ninh province as an example and use the results emerging from that province as the basis to suggest the potential ways not only to increase access to information to farmers, but also ways to address the problems of Kim Dung and Kim Trung province. Access to market information Market channels prevailing in the present circumstances in the three communes may be presented with the price information available at each stage as that would help in calculating the profit distribution. This market chain information is important and it will help to decide further plans. Based on this whether farmers can be linked directly to the retail traders or processors is another aspect that needs to be examined based on the local circumstances to help the farmers get the best price? International prices heavily influence the local prices. For this purpose, it may be possible to obtain the price information from INFOFISH and relay to farmer organizations regularly. If the farmers are organized in to groups, it may be easier to provide such information to groups through organized networks. Access to credit At present farmers appear to be able to get credit from banks, although many of them seem to have defaulted and have large debt to pay back. In the report, it may be made clear on this aspect on the credit availability from banks and other sources and flag any of the issues confronted. The report may try to present the picture prevailing in the three communes and examine in particular the situation of farmers in Ham Ninh commune in regard to credit situation and repayment. Issues related to food safety As the world food market is becoming competitive and safety issues are given highest consideration, it is essential that food producers are educated on this aspect. In Vietnam, there appears to be a long list of antibiotics and chemicals that are banned. However, farmers continue to use some of these banned items and it was informed that it is difficult to gather such information. However, this being an important issue attempt should be made to obtain information from traders or other sources and incorporate such information in the report. The training material that would be prepared should address the hazards of these chemicals and educate trainers on how the usage of these chemicals and antibiotics can be made possible to ensure food safety for all – domestic as well as export market.

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Increasing the business competitiveness of farmers Farmers are yet to consider farming also as business. To help them gain better understanding, it is important that economic analysis of the production system is done and the simple benefit cost ratio is calculated taking family labour in to consideration as well as not taking that family labour in to consideration. Also, farmers need to assisted in terms of volume and value of the business and the need for them to work together to increase profitability. How the group has helped the farmers in Ham Ninh province can help the farmers in other areas to gain that better understanding on the collective efforts needed. Conclusion If the report is revised by taking all of the above suggestions in to consideration, that will serve as the base material for various purposes including development of the training manuals for trainers as well as farmers. While appreciating the efforts of the National Team under the Leadership of Dr. Nguyen Huy Dien and the role played Ms. Nguyen Thi Bang Tam as the National Coordinator in developing the draft report, it is requested to utilize the large amount of information gathered and revise the report suitably. The tentative Frame work for the TOT manual as well as the manual for farmers is presented. This is revised based on the suggestions made by Dr. Dien and it will be subjected for further revision based on the final technical report and consideration by NACA.

Tentative Frame work for the TOT manual

(a) Chapter 1: Present the importance of shrimp in the national economy and the livelihoods of people. Emphasize the role shrimp can play in poverty alleviation, if adopted with care and practiced with commitment. Present the situation in Kim Dong, Kim Trung and Ham Ninh Commune with the simplified information to demonstrate how the three communes have been able to perform in shrimp farming. A write up can also be included on MPEDA –NACA project experience in India as a box or other country experiences – may be Indonesia.

(b) Chapter 2: Identify the Community organization structures in the three communes and suggest the pathways to build the communities to work collectively to address the technical problems through collective actions. Emphasize here the role of community organizations in solving the problems through collective efforts and actions. Think creatively to bring examples from the experiences of Vietnam to highlight in solving the problems through community actions.

Making plans through community approach – Organization of the groups, election of the group leader (s) to manage the activities; preparation of the activity calendar for the crop and meeting schedule dates. Agreeing on guiding principles to adhere to the plans.

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(c) Chapter 3: Explain the advantages of preparing ponds and stocking them simultaneously. Technical steps involved in pond preparation can be included here. Also present the disadvantages, if the different stocking periods are adopted based on the technical information.

(d) Chapter 4: Sourcing healthy seeds and the process that can be adopted in sourcing

healthy seeds through collective efforts. What are the technical criteria that need to be considered in deciding on the healthiness of the seed – from simple stress test to PCR techniques can be brought here. What farmers can do in regard to assessing the quality of seed and procuring them from the identified source may be explained.

(e) Chapter 5: The role of Water quality management during the culture period and the

community collective action needed in water quality management has to be brought in this chapter. Most ponds in Vietnam have only one point that serves as both inlet and outlet. Changing that plan to have separate inlet and outlet canal may not be easy, if not impossible. However, using the Ham Ninh Province success as an example on how the farmers are still able to manage the problems even after having only one point as inlet and outlet must be brought here lucidly and the potential options available for farmers to maintain good water quality through community action may be presented.

(f) Chapter 6: Feeds and feeding management to prevent disease, obtain good FCR and

reduce cost of production should form the core of this chapter. The cost of pellet feeds, benefits of pellet feeds and also their effect on profits as compared to home made feed can be presented here. As many farmers are using the wild trash fish, importance of feed processing in view of the disease organisms transfer through such practices need to be emphasized. As feed is the single largest input cost, farmers need to be educated on effective management and wise use of this expensive component for advantage.

(g) Chapter 7: Prevention and management of diseases by preventing the use of chemicals

and antibiotics is an important issue that should be presented in this chapter. Food safety issues and the international bans on various chemicals and antibiotics can be presented here.

In case of disease occurrence what needs to be done in this community managed approach should be presented. How Ham Ninh commune has evolved guidelines can be a key input here. Also, experiences of other countries can be presented in boxes.

(h) Chapter 8: Harvesting and providing good access to market like linking to retail traders,

processors, etc. How quality can be safeguarded by harvesting shrimp at the right time of the day and preserving it effectively needs to be presented here. The need for organizing buyers of the harvested product well in advance or making arrangement to reach the product to the processing centre may be presented here.

(i) Chapter 9: How the farmers can be assisted to obtain the required financial support to

carry out the activity may be presented here. Describe and emphasize group savings that can be made by the group.

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(j) Chapter 10: Improving access to information: What information is needed by the communities like market information, technical information, etc can be explained along with the way that can be organised. Internet access being possible – helping farmers to obtain all such information electronically may be possible.

It is important to highlight here on how the collected information can be disseminated to all the members to make collective decisions. Computer kiosks established for farmers in other countries like India can be explored as a model.

(k) Conclusion: Reducing risk, improving environment quality and enhancing sustainability

through collective efforts should be the focus in this section.

Tentative Frame work for the farmers training manual This manual should help the farmers in understanding the benefits of community organization in solving the problems confronted at present. This may be presented as a story with good pictures on what to do and what not to do to make sure that farmers adhere to the principles. An example of the manual produced in India by the Aquaculture Foundation of India was presented. It may be stated here that this manual aims at individual farmer empowerment. In the present scenario we are making community empowerment and hence need to be kept that aspect in mind while developing the manual. Chapter 1: How community effort helped solve the problems in Ham Ninh commune and may be in India (???) Chapter 2: How can we form the group and sustain the activity- group objective, membership criteria, election of officers to manage the group. Chapter 3: Obtaining quality inputs to ponds (a) Ways to procure quality lime, fertilizers (b) Ways to procure quality seed (c) Ways to stock and manage the feeds and feeding (d) What to do in case of disease outbreak (e) Preserving quality of the harvested shrimp Chapter 4: Access to market

How to get best price for the product – retail trade; whole sale; profitability of the system Chapter 5: Keeping the group intact

(a) Frequency of meetings and keeping records of group meetings (b) Provision of information on technology and markets to keep the group well informed. (c) Addressing the problems beyond aquaculture

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Suggested way forward to develop the detailed technical report using the information generated during the assessment, training of trainers manual and

the manual for farmers- Philippines On 27th Feb, 09 arrived In Manila and discussed in brief with Mr. Nemencio B. Arevalo, Project Coordinator about the activities of the project. On 28th Feb, 09, traveled to Cebu with Mr. Nemancio and Mr. Abundio M. Galicia, Jr, Officer-in-Charge and met with various staff involved in the project including Mr. Maximo A Ricohermoso, President of the MCPI. On 1st March, 09, visited to one of the project site and talked to some of the farmers on seaweed cultivation practices followed by them in the Danazon reef area, which is one the project sites. On 3rd March, in the forenoon, visit to the MCPI plant was made and held discussion on issues related to processing, products and by products from seaweeds with President and Vice President of the Corporation. Progress made by the National Team The Bureau of Fisheries has constituted a team to operate the project and this team has prepared the draft report based on the field work carried out. The report provides information on the seaweed cultivation and the problems encountered by the farmers. The Training Specialist made a visit with a purpose of discussing the report and using the material generated to develop the training manuals. A meeting with the team constituted for the purpose was held on 2nd March, 08 in the Regional Office of Cebu. A draft report prepared by the Training Specialist based on the field observations made during the field visit on 1st March, 09 and the observations made on the report submitted by the team provided basis for discussion. Outputs anticipated Following outputs are expected from the National Teams constituted for the operation of the project

(a) A technical report that will present the training needs identified based on the needs assessment carried out by following guidelines in the inception report

(b) A training manual for training of trainers (c) A training manual for training of farmers (to be in English and then translated in to the

respective regional language) (d) A report that summarizes the process adopted in identifying the training needs, developing

the training manuals, their impact and the way forward to best utilize these resources – for presentation in a regional workshop to be held at the end of the project period.

The National Team has prepared a report based on the training needs assessment carried out. Following suggestions are made on the draft report prepared with a view to generate adequate information necessary for the preparation of the TOT manual and also utilize large part of the information generated for presentation in the final workshop. These suggestions are made based on the discussion with the NACA project management team and the field observations made. A brief report prepared based on the field visit made is annexed to this report for reference. A framework for the preparation of the TOT manual and a manual for farmers are appended at the end of this report.

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The draft report prepared on the training needs The report prepared by the National team provides a summary status of the seaweed cultivation in the selected project areas and the identified needs. The team members are appreciated for providing this information that will help to gain overall knowledge on seaweed cultivation in the project operational areas. During the course of discussion on 2nd March, 09, it was noticed that the team has also used a detailed survey format to gather quantitative information besides the focus group discussion held. If all the information gathered is included in the report along with the addition of information of information as needed, the report will provide very good basis to prepare the TOT manual. (a) Livelihood impact of seaweed cultivation It would be useful to include information on how the farmers have moved to seaweed farming from other occupations and how the new activity has been affecting the livelihood of people in terms of income, labor and their impact on the family and children. As there appears to be positive impact of the activity on the livelihoods of people, it would be useful to capture such an impact through the report. Such an information would not only provide good background to set the stage for the TOT manual, but the information can also be used to influence various stakeholders on the role played by the activity in improving the livelihoods of people. (b) Access to water bodies Though no problems were reported on the access to water body either in the report or during the field visit, it would be useful to describe on how the activity is regulated. It was learnt during the discussion on 2nd March, 09 that the local Government levies certain amount of fees on the farmers. Creating an access and giving that access to the traditional users of the sea to improve their livelihood through this seaweed cultivation activity being important, it would be useful, if the report makes an attempt to explain the present policies, problems encountered, if any and how such problems are resolved. As many other countries are interested in promoting the seaweed cultivation, such information would be useful as all this information will be made available on the NACA website and will be accessible to all. (c) Technical information on seaweed cultivation Seaweed cultivation methods appear to vary from place to place. Most farmers met during the field visit indicated the length of each floating rope as 200 m and the farmers in the visited area appear to follow the straight line method. However, in other areas, different methods have been evolved, probably due to space constraints or to improve the operational efficiency. It would be appropriate to describe in detail different methods observed in project areas and present the economic efficiency of each method by using good sample size. Innovations made by farmers should be captured and presented with a view to promote such innovations by farmers. All the farmers met as well as the report, identifies disease as the single most important factor noticed in the area. Though other problems like grazing, poaching was reported as issues requiring consideration, disease is by far the most common problem. It would be useful to include in the report on the technological progress made, if any in addressing this disease problem and any of

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the solutions reported including the indigenous methods developed, if any. For this purpose, it was agreed during the meeting that the team will meet with the Scientists who have been working on this problem and gather the necessary information. NACA will also assist in gathering information from other sources including consulting with other member countries. (c) Productivity and economics tables It is not known how many samples have been used for the values presented in the table. It is requested that, if good sample size is used for each of the method with values being represented both as average along with the standard deviation; it will help to present the better picture of the situation. Such tables will become useful to make further intervention strategies. As three or four methods of seaweed cultivation practices are presented, it would be useful to present the production and economic efficiencies. In the training manual to be prepared, suitable method may be recommended for wider adoption or range of methods may be presented, leaving the choice to farmers for adoption. It is important to take family labor in to consideration while calculating the economics. The present rate of Philippines for the wage labor may be considered as the minimum wage while considering the family labor for calculation purpose. As the project aims at building the competitiveness of farmers, it is important that farmers are made to realize that their time needs to be valued while calculating economic efficiency. If necessary, benefit cost ratio including family labor and excluding family labor may be shown. (d) Processing and quality issues It was reported in the inception workshop that there are problems related to processing, particularly, farmer's tendency to add salt to increase weight of the seaweed. If any such problems are noticed during the study, it would be appropriate to highlight such issues and propose strategies to deal with them. Also, issues related to drying method and quality of the product, if any may also be highlighted. The moisture content is indicated as 38 to 40%. In India, it is reported that seaweeds need to be dried to 10% moisture content. The Training Specialist would check the situation in India on the low moisture level accomplished. Impurities: Tie-ties – what are these may be explained along with other issues, if any. During the course of meeting, it was also informed that each farmer has to spare 2-3 kg of seaweed for testing various qualities as required by the processors and based on the quality, price would be fixed. The possibilities of helping farmers to develop simple measures to test the quality of seaweed as required by the processors may be included in the report and the manual. In fact, one of the suggestions made include setting up of quality assurance laboratory. As the farmer organization develop, this may become a reality. It is important to describe the quality criteria adopted by the processors and the ways to accomplish such a product quality by the farmers may be highlighted in this section by taking the present practices, recognizing the good practices and suggesting better ways.

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(e) Marketing channel and price spread The flow diagram presented provides good information on the flow in the market channel. It would be useful to include the rates obtained at each stage by the sellers as that would help in tracking the price spread. This information would be useful to explore alternate option, if any to help the farmers in getting the better price. It is also useful to identify, the market channel prevailing in different project sites, if they are different. During the time of meeting, it was also clearly identified by the President of MCPI that the best way for the farmers to solve the problem in getting best price is by organizing themselves. Building the business capability of farmers At present farmers do not maintain any record. As most farmers are literate, it would be worthwhile to help the farmers maintain the record and help them make simple economic analysis and thereby build business capability in them. The data that would be used for analysis may be presented back to the farmers and their views on the economics calculated may be sought. This will be in designing the training for farmers, particularly to make them competitive. Farmer organization At present, there appears to be no farmer organization for small farmers wherein they can collectively make decision on various issues and develop strategies to help themselves. It was learnt from the Regional Director of BFAR that there is a regional seaweed farmer association and there are also other network institutions created for the purpose. It is requested to examine all these existing institutional structures and suggest ways to help the grass root level farmers involved with the activity. In case, there is a need, the project may examine the possibility of promoting such an organization with the purpose of helping them to develop saving attitude and use the money when needed to meet various expenses. Self help groups established in various parts of the world with focus on savings and exchange of information could be tried. These organizations could be used as entry points for information dissemination. Access to credit It would be useful to depict the current pattern of availability of credit to farmers, besides traders. If the banks or other institutions are lending money to farmers, it may be presented. It was learnt during the course of discussion that there are difficulties for the farmers to obtain credit from the traditional institutions and hence alternate strategies are necessary. Creation of SHG with the capacity to manage the credit to farmers could be explored as an option. As the amount needed for the operation of seaweed farming being small, any effort made to provide money needed to farmers would bring benefits. Access to market information Farmers appear to relay on the local traders for the market information. As many of them are financially obligated to those traders, they are not only compelled to relay on information, but also have to sell their product at the price quoted because of the financial obligation. The international

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market price is regulated by few buyers located mainly in Korea, China, USA and Europe. Though it is not clear at this stage how the international price could benefit the local farmers, it may be useful for the farmers to know such information and the fluctuations taking place in the international market. While individual farmers may not be able to get such information, if there would farmer organization, such institution can obtain information and relay to farmers. This may help to have better price for the product and also help them to understand the need for producing quality product to get the best price. Issues related to food safety At present, no issues related to food safety have been identified in the report. It was also learnt during the course of discussion that as the product goes through heat process, any of the harmful organisms contaminated would be destroyed during that process. As there are no chemicals used during the cultivation process, there are no major concerns on safety from the view point of chemicals. However, issues related to quality of the product may be considered and farmers need to be educated on how the better product can be produced and sold for premium price by following the best practices. It is important to gather information from traders on how product quality is affected by different processing adopted by the farmers, if any and highlight such issues in the report. The President of MCPI also has indicated simple tips to educate farmers on how they could maintain hygiene of the product during the drying process. Conclusion Seaweed cultivation has shown to be a viable alternative to help the small scale fishermen to find alternative livelihood. However, farmers are confronted with technical problems related to disease, price fluctuation, lack of availability of finance to expand the activity and the absence of farmer organizations at the grass root level that can help to address some of the common issues and help in the development process. In order to overcome some of the above problems, there is an opportunity to develop training of trainers manual as well as manual for farmers, through the current project, besides flagging the important issues including those would be generated in the operation of this project in the project workshop that would be held at the end of the project period. This may help to draw the attention of the concerned to help the farmers at the grass root level. If the present report is revised as per the suggestions made above, it would serve as an important document providing essential material for the preparation of the TOT manual and the material generated can form basis for presentation in the final workshop. A broad frame work is provided for developing the Trainers manual based on the field visit, discussion held and the written report submitted by the National team. This framework may only be considered as indicative and suitable changes may be made with information to NACA. The objective is to get a TOT manual as well as a manual for farmers that will not only serve to farmers in Philippines, but the contents and methodologies used could help other countries in the region to utilize the material to help the farmers interested in this subject.

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Frame work for the Training of Trainers manual Chapter 1: Background information and setting the stage for the TOT: Seaweed cultivation in Philippines and its impact on the livelihood of people in the project areas. This chapter should provide reasons for identifying the commodity; the way people have taken up this activity and its benefits to the livelihoods of people. The chapter can briefly trace the history of seaweed cultivation in Philippines to the present stage and how the project is aiming to help the farmers to improve income and create sustainability to the activity. It would also be useful to present on how the seaweed products are already used in various ways. Proven uses may be presented in the introductory chapter along with appropriate photos. Chapter 2: Actual cultivation practices: Existing seaweed cultivation practices as noticed in different project areas and may be good practices prevailing in other areas. The different techniques may be presented in this chapter that would include the criteria used in the site selection, various inputs needed for the activity; the technical activities carried out until the harvest of weed. The information available in many places may be assembled and brought as the up to date technical information for the seaweed cultivation. Chapter 3: Management of disease and other calamities. The technical aspects related to the types of common diseases encountered and any of the treatment procedures prevailing may be described. The chapter should also aim to help farmers knowledge about prevention of the diseases and their management, if occurred. In addition to diseases, other problems encountered by farmers may also be included in the chapter. Prevention of grazing of seaweed by fishes is recognized as one of the problems and solutions available may be included. Poaching being a social problem, though not recognized as an issue by the farmers with whom discussion was held, it would be advisable to propose strategies to deal with poachers through social fencing, involving community action on such activities. Prevention of the crop loss from typhoons would be an important component that can be detailed on the period of typhoons, caring for early warning and movement of seaweeds to safer areas etc. Chapter 4: Processing of seaweed to ensure food safety and quality: Issues related food safety is recognized as the most important component under the project. Discussion may be held with processors on this aspect and include such of those aspects that would be useful to ensure food safety following HACCP guidelines. The prevalent practices may be presented with options available to improve the product quality. Methods of poor processing and its impact on product quality may be described with useful tips to help the farmers on improving the quality by adopting good practices. Chapter 5: Marketing channels: The prevailing marketing practices may be presented with details on how various agents operate until it is reached to the processing unit. Importantly, the percent commission gained or added at each stage until it is reached to the processors may be

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included. Any of the better options available may be suggested to improve the markets. This is important also from the view point of placing emphasis on farmer organizations and how such an organization can help reducing the links and hopefully establish direct contact with processors. It may be also useful to identify the way traders operate their business by lending money to farmers and advise to farmers on how they can avoid such borrowings in order to get better price for the product. It may be remembered here that we must also examine the benefits of the presence of traders carefully from the realistic situation, in the absence of available support mechanism to farmers to help them get money when needed and suggest options that may only bring benefits to farmers. Chapter 6: Improving profitability: This chapter may examine the ways to improve profitability from the seaweed cultivation practices by showing the actual economics in different methods of seaweed cultivation and may in different areas / scenarios. Attention may be paid to include family labor cost and educate the farmers on how they could improve the profitability by following good management practices. This is an important chapter to educate farmers on how they can increase their profits, may be by operating in groups and selling products in groups. Chapter 7: Access to information: The way farmers obtain various information including technical and market may be included in this chapter. As most farmers appear to be literate, with TV and mobile technology being commonly used, their potentials for use in the project may be considered. Chapter 8: Access to credit: The existing pattern of credit support to farmers, both formal and informal ways may be presented and options that can be explored to make credit at available to farmers easily may be explored. Here the opportunities available to improve credit availability to farmers by establishing their own savings scheme would be useful. As the farmers do not have the habit of regular saving from the income, it would be useful to highlight on how the farmers could be encouraged by making compulsory saving through the group approach. Chapter 9: Building farmer organizations: This chapter may examine the current organizations prevailing at present and the role played by them to help the farmers may be described. If other potential models could be presented based on the local circumstances, they may be presented for exploration. As many advantages of farmer organizations have been identified in credit, marketing and even information, etc, suitable emphasis could be placed in this chapter considering the circumstances of Philippines situation. Farmers can build their own library for the benefit of members and organize several activities that may go well beyond seaweed cultivation, but would encompass on community development as a whole. Chapter 10: Conclusion: This chapter may present the global demand for the product and the opportunities available to help the farmers in earning better income through this activity. Also, in this chapter, the issues that need support from research and other actors in the activity may be presented. As many countries in the world are beginning seaweed farming, to remain competitive and have the best product, aspects that need to be considered may be presented in this section as concluding remarks. It would also be useful to include in this chapter the application of seaweed product and byproduct in various uses. The section may aim at emphasizing the production of quality product that can contribute its application in many areas. It may also wise to include on how

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seaweed farming can reduce global warming and how the farmers can contribute to this major problem confronted at present globally. Note : The above sections are only indicative and based on the extent of information available and based on the necessity, additional chapters may be added or the proposed one may be clubbed together to ensure that the trainers manual contains up to date information for training purpose. The draft manual that will be prepared using the technical information generated locally will be used by NACA to finalize the training manual by adding other information that may be useful to strengthen each chapter. Training manual for farmers Using the trainers manual as the basis, the information that would be useful to farmers may be presented in most simplified form, preferably in the pictorial form for developing the manual for farmers. TOT manual could also be used for the progressive farmers and in fact some of the innovative farmers may be chosen as trainers to train farmers. Chapter 1: Background information: Role of farmers in helping themselves and helping the global food needs and Philippines economy through the seaweed farming may be presented. Chapter 2: BMPs: Best management practices to improve yield, achieve economic efficiency, ensure food safety and protect environment may be presented in pictorial form. Chapter 3: Farmers Network: Building farmer organizations to increase access to information, access to market and community development Chapter 4: Sustaining seaweed farming: This chapter may present information on how they can sustain the activity and help the industry by improving their business competitiveness in the changing global scenario. M.C.Nandeesha 2/3/09 Field observations made: 1.3.09 and 3.3.09 The area visited under the Dananzon reef area has about 30 ha under the sea weed cultivation. This is new activity that has been practiced by farmers since about five years. Farmers have adopted floating method of culture with each farmer having a floating line of 1-32 lines with each line having a length of 200 m. Most of the farmers cultivate cotonii sea weed in the area. Each of the 200 meter length is planted with 600-800 kg sea weed (30-40 styro boxes with each box having 20 kg sea weed) with a cost of 4500 -6000 Pesos. This seaweed cultivated over a period of one month is harvested and each line would yield about 700 kg seaweed. Dried seaweed of about 100-120 kg is obtained from one line and this is sold at 35 Peso/kg to the traders. Generally, about 30 meter length seaweed is retained for using as seed material for cultivation in the upcoming

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season. Though the price was about 90 Peso in November, it has declined now to 35 Peso/kg. However, even with this declined price farmers seem to be happy and making profits. Because of the artificial price created in the previous year, many of the users in Europe reported to have given up the usage of seaweed products and switched on to other easily available synthetic products. This will be a challenge for the seaweed industry and the coordinated efforts would be useful to convince users in Europe on how this natural product usage can benefit poor people. Most farmers maintain 3-5 lines, but there are also farmers who maintain up to 32 lines. For one person, it was informed that 5 lines of 200m length can be managed easily, but beyond that, additional labor would be required to manage the activity. Farmers sell the sea weed twice a month and get the cash necessary for family maintenance. Locally in the village, it was reported that there are three traders and these traders bought the sea weed from the farmers. Generally, price does not vary much between the traders and they seem to determine the local purchase price collectively. There is no easy possibility for the farmers to sell seaweed directly to the processors since each consignment has to be one ton to be economical for transportation and also processors do not accept less than this quantity due constraints involved in processing small quantities. It was reported by the farmers that there is no seaweed farmer organization in the area, but they have the fishers association. In absence of any such organization, there is no collective action and effort to solve the problems encountered commonly by all, at present. Farmers are mainly confronted with the disease problems like "ice ice" and often they are compelled to harvest the seaweed, if they notice the disease, irrespective of the growth stage of the plant. Early harvests of the product do not yield the necessary gel strength and other product quality necessary and hence they would not be able to get the competitive price. This results in heavy loss to farmers. Farmers have made an attempt to control the disease by submerging the plants to the bottom in the area, but that has not been successful. When the seaweeds are too much affected, farmers go to the deeper areas of the seas where they can find the uninfected plants and bring them to replant once again. Grazing was reported not as a problem in the area. Though poaching was recognized as one of the problems, most of the farmers felt that, poachers are generally poor people, needing seed material for planting purpose and hence they do not worry much, if small quantity is poached by such people. Though community action could be an approach adopted to contain the problem, farmers do not recognize poaching as a major problem in the area visited. Bad weather with typhoons occurring several times a year was reported as a major problem encountered. However, this problem being natural phenomenon in the area, farmers tend to cope with the nature to harvest the crop early or assemble it to safer places based on the advance warning received. Problems related to technology Drying of seaweed in the area seems to be a problem with most farmers requesting for drying platforms. Most farmers adopt sun drying as the common method and it is not known whether any of the improved drying methods have been attempted, taking the models developed for fish drying for the seaweeds. Disease management appears to be a major issue and farmers are in need of techniques that can help them to prevent or manage the disease. As the sea weed farming is an open method wherein

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several farmers in an area are involved in the activity, collective efforts of farmers would be necessity in managing the disease problem. The causative organism of the disease and the way, the problem has been managed in other seaweed growing area needs to be examined. Access to market information Farmers seem to depend heavily on the local traders for the market price. Farmers felt that the traders have an understanding and they collectively fix the price and hence there is not much variation between the traders. They do not have mobiles, but most people have television and all are literate farmers. Other approaches to help the farmers to get the prevailing international prices may help them in deciding the sales. The price fluctuation appears to be very huge with 90 peso/kg in November, dropping down to 35 peso in Feb, 09. It was reported during discussion on 3rd March, 09 that the process are likely decline. During the course of discussion, it was pointed out that mobiles are quite commonly used and farmers obtain text information on the prices. As per the information provided, there appears to be difficulty in helping the farmers in obtaining the actual market price. However, the project may consider the ground realities based on discussion with farmers and suggest such mechanisms that would be acceptable to them. It was also pointed out once again by the MCPI President that the formation of farmer organization as a solution to many of the problems encountered. Access to credit As the farmers need money often, they appear to borrow in advance from the traders and they are then obligated to sell the product to the trader from whom the money has been borrowed. The area farmers can undertake to culture the seaweed is also restricted by the availability of money. When the money is borrowed locally, the interest rate appears to be quite high with 3% month and accounting to a 36% in a year. There are no organized farmer groups and organized saving effort made by the farmers. Increasing the competitiveness of the farmers The farmers in the observed area are all small farmers who depended until recently on fishing for their livelihood and only since five years, some of the farmers attempted seaweed cultivation as an alternate occupation to overcome the uncertainties in fishing. Among the six farmers talked, only one farmer has been doing seaweed cultivation for the past five years and rest has been doing it only since a year. There is an opportunity to organize farmers and help them with the technology, the required finance and the market information to enable them to run the activity effectively and improve their livelihood. As most farmers are literate, educating the farmers on producing the quality product to get the best price would require the coordinated effort by various agencies involved in the production of seaweed and processors involved in developing products from seaweed would be necessary

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Visit to MCPI plant President of the company Mr. Maximo A. Ricohermoso is the project leader of this project and participated in the project inception workshop. The plant with nearly three decades of experience in the seaweed processing has also been involved in developing various products and also exploring new areas for the application of seaweed byproducts. Since the processors are interested to help the farmers in all possible ways, this is a good opportunity to address the needs of farmers as well as processors by helping all to produce the quality product. A number of ideas also emerged during the course of discussion on 3rd March with the President and Vice President of the MCPI, particularly on the seaweed cultivation impact on the livelihoods of people, role of seaweed farmers in providing quality product with provisions for traceability, new areas of application of seaweed products, etc. All these can be included in the TOT manual in the appropriate sections. It is expected that this unique partnership under this project with the industry will prove to be an effective one and help in brining betters benefits to farmers and all others involved in the activity.

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Way forward to develop the revised technical needs assessment report and preparing the draft training manual on the identified issues - Indonesia

Background: On 8th March, TS arrived in Jakarta and he was met by Mr. Kurnia. They together traveled to Batam wherein Dr. Reza and Mr. Abdullah were met in the evening and discussed about the project activities, purpose of the visit and prepared plans to utilize the following two days of TS stay in Indonesia. On 9th March, 09, a field visit was undertaken to meet with farmers involved in cage culture of sea bass and groupers. Discussions were held with the group of farmers along with Batam Mariculture Station Head, Mr. Samsul Akbar. This was followed by a visit to the Mariculture station wherein the seed production activities of sea bass and groupers was witnessed. On 10th March, 09 discussions was held with Dr. Reza and Mr. Abdullah on the revision of the report and preparing the draft TOT and the manual for farmers based on the technical report on needs assessment and proposing the potential pathways based on the situation in the country. The Director General Dr. Made L. Nurdjana was also met on 10th March, 09 and appraised about the purpose of visit and the activities planned under the project. A brief report based on the discussion with farmers and visit to the station is appended to this report. The Needs Assessment report The report prepared by Dr. Reza, Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Kurnia provide an idea on the status of grouper and sea bass culture in Indonesia and some of the major problems encountered by the farmers. This is very good attempt and provides a basis for further improvement of the needs assessment and address the key issues confronted by the farmers. During the course of discussion, it was noticed that the team also has gathered good lot of information through quantitative survey. If all those information can be analysed and organized focusing on the issues that need to be addressed in the project, it will help in developing the training of trainers manual as well as manual for farmers. It was reported the data has been gathered from over 40 farmers from both the Batam and the Lampung areas. Impact of the cage culture activity on the livelihoods of people There are several farmers involved with the activity who have moved from other professions like catching fish from the wild, preparing charcoal from the mangrove trees, etc., in to the profession of culture of fishes. The programs initiated by the Government to rehabilitate these people have also encouraged the farmers to take up the activity using various financial incentives provided. The farmers use much of their own labor to catch small fish and feed them to the cultured sea bass and groupers. If the report could aim at providing a picture on the type of people involved in the activity, how the fish culture activity has been providing them opportunity to improve their livelihood, the livelihood dependence of farmers on the cage culture and other activities, extent of involvement of family as a whole in the cage culture activity, etc.

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It would be useful to bring forth the argument on how the change in their occupation has helped them to have stability for their livelihood and how they can be assisted to have sustainable income from the activity. The community in Batam has been a nomadic community and through Government intervention, they are made to settle at one place and improve their life. Now fish culture has been introduced as an option to charcoal production. It would be useful to bring the benefits of the on-going activities in changing their livelihood or its potential to change their livelihood in this section. Assessing the operational efficiency of farmers Most of the farmers involved in the sea bass and grouper culture use cages for culture purpose and it was reported that fish in these cages are fed mainly / only with the trash fish largely collected by the farmer themselves, though on some occasions, farmers buy fish from others based on the volume of the cage culture operation. The seed required for the culture operation is procured from the hatchery. Use of wild seed in the culture operation appears to be limited in the areas because of the support from the Mariculture Development Stations located in both Batam and Lampung areas. The fish are grown even up to a period of eighteen months. The fish grown over 500 g are marketed based on the demand and market price to the agents who will buy fish for sale locally or in the markets of neighboring countries. Long period of culture operation, feeding these fishes largely with trash fishes, fish disease problems encountered by farmers, obtaining good price for the product, etc., are some of the major problems reported in the activity. Large amount of data gathered may kindly be analyzed to find out the profitability of the activity. It is reported that over 40 farmers data has been gathered from each area and this data would be useful to understand the current culture operations, investments made by farmers on various components and the income earned by the farmers. It would be useful to include family labor and consider the opportunity cost involved for such an investment of time. Depreciation value of the cage, interest paid for the investment on the cage would be other important aspects that need to be considered while making such the calculation. This would help to understand the profitability or otherwise of the system. This can be used as the basis to develop technical and other spheres of intervention to develop the competitiveness of farmers through the present project intervention. Technical problems confronted by the farmers Farmers appear to face various technical problems – these relate largely to availability of seed as well as the disease problems. There are also issues related to feeding fish with trash fish caught from the wild. These technical problems confronted by the farmers need to be identified and the potential pathways to resolve those problems may be identified. For example in Batam, the Mariculture Development Station is making an effort to train farmers in nursing of fish seed so that they can undertake the operation of sea bass and groupers and meet the local fish seed necessities. When the farmers have to take up the activity, there may be other important issues like the electricity supply that may need to be addressed. Feed is the second most important factor. Can the farmers be encouraged to use artificial feed or artificial feed in combination with trash fish or pellet feed alone, etc., are other options that may be available need to be examined and suggest economically viable and environmentally acceptable approaches.

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Access to information At present farmers obtain the necessary technical information from the Sate Department. It appears that there are several schemes also to promote cage culture of these fishes. One of the cages visited was a cooperative initiative involving ten farmers. Besides the station, farmers also reported to obtain information from newspapers, radio and television, though this is not yet popular in aquaculture unlike in agriculture sector. It would be useful to identify the important mode of information delivery mechanisms available and suggest best ways, including the opportunities available through electronic media. Establishment of agricultural information centers in rural areas with provision for internet access is proving to be a good initiative and this may be an area for consideration. Access to credit and the prevailing saving practices The total amount needed for the unit and one culture cycle appears to be quite high. Farmers have difficulty to obtain the required credit from the existing financial institutions. If these are practical realities, they need to be stated along with the mechanisms adopted by farmers to borrow money from alternate sources and the amount of interest paid. From the discussion, it appears that farmers have no saving activity at present from the groups established for the purpose lending money. As the crop involves long duration culture, farmers seem to have no saving program, though they are engaged in other small income generating activity to meet the livelihood necessities. It is suggested that issues related to access to credit and saving attitude of farmers may be presented. It would be useful to establish the saving schemers that will allow farmers to save compulsorily at a periodic interval of time. Market channels The traders play a key role in collecting the fish and marketing. Farmers are not fully aware of the agents strategy and where they market the fish gathered, other than in local area. In Batam area, some of the farmers market the fish directly to hotels and the price received in such cases are usually high. As the Singapore is very close – 45 minutes by speed boat, it appears that good amount of fish is taken there for marketing from Batam area. However, farmers are not aware and they have no idea on the prevailing market information. It is important that existing market channels for both sea bass and groupers are identified and the prices paid at each stage are tracked. This will help to understand on how the farmers and traders derive the profit percentage and the opportunities that may be available to help farmers earn better revenue. Access to market information Farmers do not have information on the price prevailing in other countries and even in other places within Indonesia. Though the mobile technology is helping farmers to a great extent in tracking prices, largely within the country, price prevailing in other countries is not known. Farmers make efforts to ascertain the price before selling, but their access to information being limited, this aspect has to be examined on how these farmers can be assisted in getting good market information.

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Farmer organizations There appears to be farmer organizations established at present either by farmer themselves or under the necessity as demanded by the Government to initiate cooperative cage farming. One of the cage farmers organization met had the office bearers and they have been working together to maintain cage units allocated to each farmer under one cage platform, having nine units. They do not have any saving activity at present nor any other community focused activity other than maintaining the cage activity. Describing the nature of these organizations, their functions and election of office beavers would be useful. Any of the useful activities that can be undertaken through such existing organizations and strengthen them under the prevailing circumstances may be presented. It was also reported that there are farmer federations (UPP) – however, the functions and the way present project can take advantage of such institutions need to be explained. Mitras are an institution, identified in the inception workshop. If these organization model would be useful, it would be good include them in the report. Minimum price policy in case of fish It appears that poor farmers are not only catching the wild fish to feed to produce the commodities like sea bass and grouper, but also use most of their unvalued or undervalued labor to grow these fish and then sell them at a price, which will not help them to get back even their wages is the practice prevailing. It would be useful to work out the minimum cost of production of fish in these cages and help the farmers understand the price at which they should sell. Also at the same time, explore ways to fix minimum price for the fish and educate consumers. This would be useful to safeguard the interest of farmers. Gender role in cage culture It is not clear on how the women and children in the family are involved in the activity. One of the farmers met indicated that family members have been helping in carrying out the culture operation whenever needed, particularly in feeding of fishes. In the organization, they have at present women are not part of the organization and they seem to have no role. It would be useful to ensure the involvement of women in the organization and the activity aptly and build activities for the empowerment of both men and women. Record keeping In the cage culture activity, to estimate the cost of production and to estimate the minimum price for the product, record keeping is the most essential part. Some of the farmers met did indicate that they keep the records. If such records are kept, it becomes easy to calculate the cost of production. This aspect of record keeping may be examined in the context of literacy level and effective mechanisms may be suggested to ensure record keeping.

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Conclusion The needs assessment report may be revised taking the above points in to consideration and such a report will provide not only baseline information, but also ideas for developing the training of trainers manual. The manual would aim to address the deficiencies and help in building the capacity of farmers to remain competitive. The report prepared can also be used as a material to flag the issues in the workshop to be held t at the end of the project, combining with the lessons that would be learnt in implementing the Training of Trainers and Training of Farmers manuals. Framework for the Training of Trainers Manual Chapter one: Present the aquaculture scenario of the country and identify the level of contribution of sea bass and grouper; livelihood dependence of fishers on these species and why the culture of these species is necessary may be highlighted from the livelihood point of view. This chapter should also focus on the efforts made to identify the major constraints how this TOT will address the constraints to bring benefits to farmers Chapter two: Present the technology of culture of seas and grouper in this chapter in pond and cages along with the economics of production. Suggest ways by which they can reduce cost of production and increase profitability, particularly through effective feeds and feeding practices. Chapter three: Include brief information on the breeding and larval rearing technology developed in the station Identify the opportunities and methods by which farmers can undertake larval rearing of the species to increase seed availability. Chapter four: Market channels and market information: Present the existing market channels and the price spread. Present the alternate possibilities for the farmers to obtain better price by eliminating any of the linkages or establishing new connections. Present information on how farmers obtain market information at present and present the potential pathways they can get the information by having an organization. Chapter five: Access to information: Explain the literacy level of farmers and how they obtain technical information at present – from the Department, news media, radio, television, mobile, etc. Present the pathways by which they can enhance access to information by organizing themselves in to groups – may be internet access; other ways of strengthening information base under the Indonesian circumstances. Also, if the majority of farmers are not literate, reaching information to

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such illiterates through effective ways need to be examined. Indonesia is country where IPM (Integrated Pest Management) proved to be a good success and several novel approaches have been evolved to educate farmers and help both literate and illiterate to remain competitive by remaining innovative. Chapter six: Access to credit and building saving habit - Explain the existing credit cannels and the interest rates charged. Banks have the interest rates and recovery process that may not suit the fish farmers. Present and explain them and suggest ways by which they can be changed to suit farmer convenience. Examine the methods of saving approaches used at present, if any. Explain on how they could save the money on regular basis and use that money for circulation among members as credit. Such saving approaches may be already available in Indonesia and what is needed is to gather such potential approaches and present them. Chapter seven: Farmer organizations: Examine the existing organizations and how they are helping the farmers; keeping in view of building the capacity of farmers by having good access to information, market, credit, etc, suggest ways by which farmer organizations can play collective and effective role; how they can be established and made functional. Indonesia has many such examples from the IPM approaches in the agriculture sector and they may be consulted for suitable guidance on the matter. Chapter eight: Food quality and safety: Food q quality is important to secure the best price. How the quality of product can be ensured may be presented here. Safe transport of the fish until it reaches the consumer may be presented here. Food safety is a major issue in the growing international food trade and several of the chemicals and antibiotics are banned. It would be useful to examine the current practices and suggest ways to avoid using of such chemicals, if any. Chapter nine: Gender role in the cage culture of sea bass and grouper: Present the involvement of family in the activity and identify the role played by each of them – men, women, and children. Present information on how the empowerment of women can help in increasing benefits from the cage culture activity. Have the women have been trained in cage culture activity; are they aware of the economics of the activity carried out; how they can be made part of the activity, if they have time and how participation of women would be useful in sustaining the activity may be presented here. The Gender division of the Agriculture / Fisheries Department may be consulted in designing this chapter. Women can play good role in record keeping. Explain why record keeping is essential to determine the sustainability of the operation. How minimum price can be bargained for the product by keeping the record can also be presented here. If there are many farmers who are not literate, effective ways to keep the record by such farmers or taking the help of other farmers may be explained.

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Chapter ten: In this concluding chapter examine the potential for sea bass and grouper culture from the sustainability point of view. Identify areas for research based on the needs expressed by farmers. Identify major policy measures that may be useful Note: The above chapters suggested are only as indicative. Based on the necessity and extent of information available, some of the chapters could be split or merged. However, it is necessary to remember that this project aims to build the capacity of farmers by increasing their access to information, credit, market and building their business competitiveness by helping them to better understand the economics of operation and issues related to food safety. Hence, the training manual should aim at adding elements that are not easily available at present in the existing training manuals. Training manual for farmers This manual may be produced more in the pictorial form wherever possible to help the farmers to grasp the ideas quickly. It is important that farmers gain better understanding on the issues related to food safety, ensure sustainability by following the good aquaculture practices, gain access to credit that would help them to carry out the activity effectively, get the best price for the product by understanding the market dynamics and help farmers understand on how they can benefit by organizing themselves. Chapter One: Sea bass and grouper production buy the responsible small scale farmers This section can present the scenario on how sea bass and grouper are important to meet the high market demand; current level of production and economic viability of the operation; how farmers livelihood can be improved through this new activity. Chapter two: Sustainable ways of growing sea bass and groupers In this chapter include methods that would help farmers to grow these fishes by using quality seed procured from hatchery and feeding them with quality feed / trash fish. Care is necessary during the growth period to manage diseases, water quality problems, etc. Chapter three: Running the activity as a small business In this chapter emphasis may be laid on economics of production; importance of record keeping calculating the economics of production; how the activity can be run as a small business by following good aquaculture practices and keeping records

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Chapter four: Building farmer organizations How farmers can have better access to information, credit, market, etc .by building farmer organizations may be presented here. Also, explain the difficulties that are involved in bargaining for any of the above as an individual and the opportunities available for the collective effort. Chapter five: Conclusion Quality and healthy products production by the empowered small farmers should be the focus. Mention here how the traceability is now becoming an important factor in the food quality control. Emphasize how Indonesian farmers can have the best image by following good practices and seeking good price from the consumers. Field observations made on 9.3.09 and the discussions held with the team on 10.3.09. Tieng Wang Kang is a village with 30 families, wherein seas bass and grouper culture is promoted by the Department of Aquaculture to provide additional income to farmers. There are ten farmers who have been brought under the cooperative farming by having a common cage with nine subunits of cages with each cage unit having a size of 3 x 3meter. Mr. Isa, Chairman of the Committee and Mr. Amus, Secretary of the Committee were met during the visit and discussed the activities. Most of the families of the village belong to a tribe who in the past lived in sea with fishing as their main occupation. They lived in boats and kept moving from one place to another. In the past, the Government made an effort to rehabilitate these people by giving them place to settle and produce charcoal from the mangrove wood. Since the Government has now banned the production of charcoal from the mangrove wood, efforts are now made to give alternate livelihood by giving them cages and encouraging them to undertake fish culture. Farmers stock seas bass or grouper at @ 150 fish /cage and grow them for eight months in the case of sea bass and more than a year in the case of grouper. There are nine units in the cage and ten farmers are managing these nine units. Farmers catch fish by themselves on most occasions and feed the fishes with occasional purchase of fish from outside when needed. The price of trash fish was reported to be Rupaiah 5000/ kg. The fishes are fed once a day, normally in the evening period to satiation. Generally about seven kg of wet fish was reported as the requirement to produce one kg of marketable live fish. These fish are sold to traders and there is no problem for marketing – since there is good demand locally as well as from other countries. Some times farmers sell fish directly to restaurants and the price received on such occasions is almost 25% more. However, the quantity each restaurant can buy is limited and hence they need to tie with many, if they have to market directly to restaurants. When the middlemen buy, farmers are not sure where the fish is sent beside the local market. The farmers also have no idea on the prices in Singapore market, though Batam is very close to Singapore. Farmers were given a loan of ten million Rupaiah by the Department for starting the cage culture. In fact, the cage costed them 13 million Rupaiah. The cage has a life span of about five years.

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From the loan amount, interest is cut and rest of the nine million was given to farmers and they have started repayment after each harvest. The new activity has given some stability to farmers since they had in the past depended only on charcoal production and the catching fish from wild, which in the latter case was more like gambling. Through cage culture, farmers can get production, if there are no disease problems. However, farmers generally face disease problems and the Mariculture Development Station has been helping them to treat the diseased fish whenever the problems were noticed. Station also has plans to help the farmers now to undertaken nursing of sea bass and grouper seed and sell to other farmers. This might help them to earn good income. Isa and Amus have 3-4 children and their wives undertake other activities to earn family livelihood necessities. Children go to school, but with all the competition, future is filled with uncertainties. Farmers wish to expand the culture activity so that they can get assured income. They need credit that is friendly to their culture operation, they need information to get good production, they need good market information to get the best price for their product and they need good technology that can help them grow safe food. They recognise the strength of farmer organizations, but also endorse the need to have good leader with vision to build such organzations. Mariculture Development Centre The Mariculture Development Centre of Batam is involved in the seed production of sea bass, grouper and pompeno as well as culture of these fishes in cages. Most of the seed required in the area is produced in the centre by using both flow through system as well as the closed system of production. The centre also has cage culture units wherein culture operations are undertaken and the brood fish are held. The station provides support to farmers in terms of seed supply, assist them in culture operation by solving the problems encountered in the culture operation. The station has plans to train farmers in undertaking the seed nursing operation of sea bass and groupers. This may help farmers in solving the seed requirement. Around the station, there are also a number of seaweed farmers. The species cultured by the farmers in Philippines and in Batam area being similar, there is good opportunity for the exchange of information. Head of the Station, Mr. Samsul Akbar was kind enough to show various activities and expressed his willingness to support the farmers through the NACA project. Meeting with the Director General of Aquaculture On 10th March, 09, a brief meeting was held with the Director General with the participation of Dr. Reza and Mr. Abdullah. The Director General was informed of the purpose of the visit and he has directed the project leaders to provide all the necessary support for the project. Sea Bass and groupers seed production being a good success of Indonesia; he also expressed the desire to help others in improving this technology wherever necessary. The concept of decentralized seed nursing initiated by the Department is expected to help the farmers with the required quality and size of the seed.

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Discussion with the project team Dr. Reza, Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Kurnia accompanied the TS to the field and all the issues presented above have been discussed. It appears that they have all the information useful on the ideas suggested above in the survey format used for collection of information. They have promised to analyse the gathered data and use that information for revising the technical report as well as preparing the training manual. Because of the time constraint only one project site was visited and only one farmer group was met. Lampung area also appears to have good opportunity for culture as well as good market in the adjoining countries. The farmers have problems related culture, getting good price for the product, and organizing themselves in to groups to serve better benefits. As the current project provides an opportunity to address these critical issues, it was requested to the project team to place emphasis in revising the report and preparing the training manual. M.C.Nandeesha 12.3.09

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Travel Schedule of Dr. M.C.Nandeesha along with brief work done report

Date Country Activity Remarks 10.2.09 Thailand Met with Dr. Sena DeSilva , Director General,

Mr. Simon Wilkinson, Communications Manager and Ms. Nongluk Pituktammanat, Research Associate and discussed about the project

Arrived from India in the early hours of the day

11.2.09 Meeting with the National Team of Thailand 12.2.09 Field visit to see the cage culture of tilapia with Ms.

Ubolratana Suntornratana

13.2.09 Meeting with NACA and NT of Thailand 14.2.09 Review of TNA materials for the Cambodia 15.2.09 Meeting with Dr. C.V. Mohan, Mr. Simon Wilkinson and

Ms. Nongluk Pituktammanat and departure to Cambodia in the evening flight

15.2.09 Cambodia Arrival in Cambodia and meeting with Mr. Pich Sereywath

Arrived at 8.00 PM and Stayed in Hotel Sydney

16.2.09 Meeting with Mr. Pich Sereywath and Mr. Ouch Lang 17.2.09 Field visit to see pond culture of snakehead culture 18.2.09 Travel to Prey Veng Province and participate in the fish

seed network members meeting

19.2.09 Visit to fish seed producers area in Prey Veng province 20.2.09 Meeting with National Team to develop the strategy

and dinner meeting with the Director General HE Nao Thouck and the Deputy Director General, Dr. Sam Naouv

21.2.09 Finalization of the draft guidelines to improve TNA and develop draft TOT, Departure to Vietnam

21.2.09 Vietnam Travel to Vietnam Arrived in Hanoi and met with Ms. Bang Tam

22.2.09 Meeting with Bang Tam on the tasks 23.2.09 Meeting with the National Team and Dr. Dien and

travel to Ninh Binh province and overnight stay

24.2.09 Visit to Kang Trung Commune and meeting with farmers. Return to Hanoi in the evening

25.2.09 Preparation of the observation report and presentation of the findings to the National Team

26.2.09 Finalization of the draft report and travel to Thailand Arrived in Bangkok in the afternoon and Stay

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27.2.09 Thailand Meeting with Dr. C.V. Mohan and departure to Philippines

27.2.09 Philippines Meeting with Mr. Nemancio and halt in Manila Stay in Manila 28.2.09 Travel to Cebu with the National Team and visit to the

city. Dinner meeting with the Project Leader, Mr. Ricohermoso

Stay in Cebu

1.3.09 Visit to field to see the sea weed culture activity and return to Cebu by evening

2.3.09 Meeting with the National Team to present the findings and agreement on the issues to be addressed

3.3.09 Visit to MCPI plant in the forenoon and travel to Manila in the afternoon and return to Bangkok in the night flight

4.3.09 Thailand Meeting with Mr. Simon Wilkinson and presentation of the findings; draft report to Dr. C.V. Mohan and other committee members

5.3.09 Collection of literature on sea bass and groupers 6.3.09 Preparing the information necessary for the visit 6.3.09 Preparing the information necessary for the visit 7.3.09 Reading the TNA prepared by the National team and

preparing comments

8.3.09 Indonesia Travel to Jakarta by morning flight – meet with Mr. Kurnia and travel to Batam in the evening

Stay in Batam

9.3.09 Visit to field to see the cage culture of sea bass and grouper with the National Team and the Station Head Mr. Samsul Akbar; visit to Mariculture Development Centre and travel to Jakarta

Stay in Jakarta

10.3.09 Meet with the National Team and finalized the tasks to be carried out to complete the TNA and draft TOT. Courtesy call on the Director General

Stay in Jakarta

11.3.09 Worked on the report and departure to Bangkok Stay in Bangkok

12.3.09 Thailand Meeting with Mr. Simon Wilkinson and Ms. Nongluk Pituktammanat. Worked n the compilation of all the countries report ; submitted accounts against the advance given

13.3.09 Prepared the draft report of the TS based on the visit and travel to Kolkota , India in the evening flight

14.3.09 India Travel from Kolkota to Agartala in the forenoon flight