Crab To Seaweed Ready To Supply For Food In IKN

Crab illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government is ready to supply and fulfill four mainstay commodities of marine and fishery products for food needs in the National Capital City (IKN) of the Archipelago. The marine products supplied are crabs, windu shrimp, milkfish and seaweed.

Head of the North Kalimantan Provincial Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service, Rukhi Syasadin, said that apart from being exported, Kaltara is ready to supply food from marine and fishery products. Even in addition to IKN, North Kalimantan is ready to meet the domestic consumption needs of marine and fishery products to 2.7 million people who are planned to work in the Indonesian Green Industrial Zone (KIHI) Tanah Kuning in Bulungan Regency.

He said North Kalimantan has a coastline of approximately 3,500 km and the management authority is up to 12 nautical miles or approximately 776 thousand hectares.

"We also have 196 small islands that are very potential for ponds," he said, quoting antara.

He said the potential for North Kalimantan windu shrimp is still quite large and is in great demand by East and Middle East Asia. North Kalimantan windu shrimp is cultivated organically and traditionally.

In 2020, based on records from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of North Kalimantan, the production of windu shrimp reached 8,752 tons with an economic value of Rp886.6 billion.

"So if we talk about commodities that are not touched by chemicals, people will look for them. We communicated with several cold storage companies, they agreed that the original windu shrimp should be properly maintained," he said.

The mangrove crabs are also a leading commodity for North Kalimantan. Even the economic value is higher than windu shrimp.

"Kepiting, which used to be a pest, is now being sought. The price of crabs is also very high even above the price of shrimp. Yesterday, before Chinese New Year at the fishing level, the price was Rp. 300-400 thousand per kilogram. Now the price of shrimp measuring 20 is around 150 thousand. So it's still high in crabs," said Rukhi.

According to the North Kalimantan Maritime and Fisheries Service, this area has produced 756.67 tons of crabs in 2021 from pond areas owned by the community spread across Bulungan Regency and Tana Tidung Regency.

Meanwhile, milkfish in 2020, based on the records of North Kalimantan BPS, production reached 4,480 tons with an economic value of Rp69.8 billion.

"North Kalimantan has been very well known to milkfish for a long time. This commodity has been exported to China, Japan, even to Qatar. This means that we are grateful that fishery commodities are always wanted," he said.

Another mainstay commodity is seaweed. seaweed cultivation is concentrated in Tarakan and Nunukan. In 2021 North Kalimantan will produce 62 thousand tons of dried seaweed.

"This is in fact the economy is really developing from seaweed. If it is converted to a price of Rp. 20,000 per kilogram, there is even more than that price, then there is Rp. 1.2 trillion in circulation of money in North Kalimantan only from seaweed," he said.