KKP Develops Seaweed To Fertilizer, Production Reaches 3,600 Tons Per Year

Illustration (Photo: Doc Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) is developing fertilizers from seaweed which can later be used for the needs of 100,000 hectares (ha) of land.

The Director General of Strengthening the Competitiveness of Marine and Fishery Products (PDSPKP) KKP Budi Sulistiyo said the raw materials currently used were Sargassum Sp, Ulva Lactuca, Eucheuma Spinosum and Eucheuma Cottoni.

"One of the derivative products of seaweed produces a bio-fertilizer. The production we receive from seaweed business actors is 3,600 tons of liquid per year. This can be used for fertilizer needs in 100,000 ha of land," Budi said in the Bincang Bahari agenda at the KKP office, Jakarta, Monday, November 11.

Budi explained that the manufacture of fertilizers from seaweed is a form of downstreaming to accelerate food self-sufficiency. He said, with the amount of fertilizer needs in Indonesia reaching 13 million tons, while the fulfillment of conventional fertilizers is only around 50 percent.

He hopes that this self-sufficiency policy will trigger the impetus for the manufacture of seaweed fertilizers.

He added that the production of seaweed fertilizer came from KKP assisted business actors in Bali. "The fertilizer results are already in the market, there is a permit and it has been distributed," he said.

Not only that, Budi said, the products of this fostered business have also passed the trial of 131 fertilizer points in Bali and Sulawesi.

However, he did not specify the data on the results of the trial.

According to Budi, there are already productivity results from seaweed fertilizers and also the sugar content produced if this fertilizer is used for rice planting. D

he said that in the future the KKP would coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) regarding seaweed fertilizer.

"Obviously we will promote. This is one of the sources of fertilizer that can be utilized," he concluded.

Meanwhile, based on KKP records, until now the potential for seaweed cultivation is still wide open.

This is because the use of land for cultivation has only been used 0.8 percent or an area of 102,254 ha of the total land area potential of 12 million ha.

It is known, in 2022, Indonesia's seaweed cultivation will produce 9.23 million tons, which is dominated by the Cottonii variant as a caragenan material.

Then there are types of Sargassum seaweed, Gracilaria, Haliminea and Gelidium amazii.