PBNU: Access To Capital For Fishermen Is Still Limited

Umarsyah/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - The Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU) pays attention to efforts to open access to capital and markets for capture fisheries fishermen.

The chairman of PBNU Umarsyah said that PBNU is currently preparing an appropriate and effective formulation to be used as a model for fishing villages.

The model will be applied by PBNU in an effort to provide assistance to fishing communities in a number of areas to be able to improve their welfare, particularly in relation to capital and markets.

As a pilot project, PBNU made a visit to declare a fishing village for the prospective NU fostered fishermen in Warloka Village, Komodo District, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), on Saturday (5/2). The declaration was part of the NU 96th Harlah series which was held in Labuan Bajo, NTT.

"The main problem is that capture fisheries fishermen generally experience capital difficulties, both working capital in the form of basic necessities and diesel fuel, as well as investment capital in the form of ships, equipment and market access. This is something our team must overcome in implementing the MoU PBNU and KKP," he said in a statement received in Jakarta Thursday 3 February.

According to Umarsyah, with limited capital, fishermen's activities are poor with supporting facilities and infrastructure, such as equipment for coolers, salt and ice. Including, he continued, poor road facilities and infrastructure to access the market resulted in fishermen having to rush to sell their catch.

"This is what middlemen often take advantage of, which of course will be detrimental to fishermen, because brands inevitably have to sell their catch at any price," said Umarsyah.

Therefore, PBNU cooperates with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) in the form of an MoU for this fishing village fostered program or mentoring.

The program only aims to open access so that fishermen can get benefits from the side of capital and also market access.

"Nowadays, what generally happens is that production for fishing is very high. Meanwhile, they have limited and weak access to cheap sources of business financing, as well as poverty in terms of facilities and infrastructure," he said.

Therefore, according to Umarsyah, through the MoU PBNU-KKP seeks to increase the ability to manage marine and fishery resources, and how to gain access and protection for fishermen.

"The concrete program can be in the form of a strategy to increase stakeholder awareness and cooperation in helping the empowerment of fishing communities, as well as a group cooperation strategy based on similar business fields," he concluded.