Coastal community empowerment in processing Kappaphycus alvarezii: a case study in Ceningan Island, Bali, Indonesia

This paper reports on a project to engage researchers and seaweed farmers in an intervention to improve livelihoods as a part of coastal community empowerment in Ceningan Island, Bali, Indonesia. An easy and manageable seaweed processing technology and introduction of the processing technology was developed in order to improve income and livelihoods by improving skills and knowledge of seaweed farmers in Ceningan Island in seaweed processing technology and business plan and managerial of seaweed processing products. This project was started with a field survey and followed by two workshops. The project was started with a field survey to identify major issues or problem faced by the seaweed farmers and to determine target and segmentation of workshop participants. Two workshops then were conducted based on field data to introduce seaweed for food processing technology, and the second workshop was conducted to introduce business plan and managerial knowledge that can be applied by seaweed farmers. As a result of this project, 35 people became capable of producing various seaweed-based food products and continued to operate in a small-scale manner under the guidance of IDEP Foundation. The project proved to be a renaissance for Ceningan Island coastal community to realize how potential their seaweed processing could be. Windows of opportunity lie in front of them to establish small and medium enterprises on seaweed products and to build those products as souvenir icon from Ceningan Island, Bali.