Abstract
Farmers are one of the most important components of any plant-based cultivation industry. The Philippines is one of the world’s major producers of red carrageenophyte algae and has tens of thousands of farmers involved in this industry. The production of algae such as Kappaphycus and Eucheuma increased significantly from the early 1970s, when the industry was established, before declining from the mid-2000s, due to a number of reasons, including disease and epiphyte outbreaks. The introduction of biosecurity measures has been one approach used to tackle this decline. Biosecurity-related knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of the seaweed farmers were assessed in the four highest seaweed producing regions in the Philippines: (1) Tawi-Tawi, (2) Palawan, (3) Zamboanga and (4) Bohol. Analyses showed that seaweed farmers from Tawi-Tawi had relatively higher KAP mean scores than the other three sites. Palawan and Bohol farmers, however, scored lower on their knowledge, higher on their attitude and highest on their practices compared with the other areas. Farmers from Zamboanga scored the lowest in both their attitude and practice mean scores, although their knowledge score was one of the highest. This is the first KAP assessment applied to the seaweed farming industry globally and the results, in which the farmers’ biosecurity-related knowledge and practices, which scored “Fair” (50–75%) across all the regions, and their attitudes, which scored predominantly “Good” (> 75%) suggest that there is potential to raise the score for biosecurity practices. This assessment highlights how biosecurity challenges are currently addressed by seaweed farmers in the Philippines and suggests how the KAP survey could be used as a tool by policymakers and scientists to address gaps in biosecurity management practices.
Highlights
There is a long history of red algae (e.g. Kappaphycus and Eucheuma) production in tropical and sub-tropical countries (Hayashi et al 2017), which has provided considerable economic benefits to tens of thousands of seaweed farmers in developing countries (Hurtado 2013; Msuya 2013; Neish 2013; Valderrama et al 2013, 2015; Cottier-Cook et al 2016; Samonte 2017)
Unlike the other three regions, none of the farmers from Palawan graduated with less than a primary school (LPS) education and the remainder graduated from primary (PS) (25%), secondary (SS) (50%) and tertiary (TS) (25%) level education
In Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga and Palawan farmers use deep-sea farming techniques, since the seaweed is usually grown in water depths greater than 4 m
Summary
There is a long history of red algae (e.g. Kappaphycus and Eucheuma) production in tropical and sub-tropical countries (Hayashi et al 2017), which has provided considerable economic benefits to tens of thousands of seaweed farmers in developing countries (Hurtado 2013; Msuya 2013; Neish 2013; Valderrama et al 2013, 2015; Cottier-Cook et al 2016; Samonte 2017). Biosecurity measures, have been absent or, not strictly implemented, from the point of origin to final out-planting sites (Mateo et al 2020) This lack of biosecurity has led to disease and pest introductions, together with the intentionally introduced algae, which in many cases, have only become apparent several years after arrival (Vairappan et al 2008; Tsiresy et al 2016). The peak of seaweed production (1.84 M t fwt) in the Philippines was reported in 2011; production reduced significantly in 2012 (4.9%, with a value equivalent of US$80,470M) (Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) 2013) due to disease outbreaks and has since continued to decline This situation has been further exacerbated by poor cultivar quality, which has resulted in a greater susceptibility of the cultivated seaweeds to disease and pest infestation, to abiotic and biotic stresses and to climate change, as reviewed by Largo et al (2017). Minimal, biosecurity regulations are typically implemented in the Philippines, the translocation of strains and their health status at the local and regional levels continues unchecked (Mateo et al 2020)
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