Women Leadership in Managing Seaweed Value Chain In South Sulawesi
South Sulawesi is one of the largest seaweed-producing provinces in Indonesia. Around one third of national seaweed production comes from here, and it represents almost 11% of the global production. The high potential of seaweed in South Sulawesi requires parties to foster cultivators and buyers. One of the business units that plays an important role in the development of seaweed farming in South Sulawesi is the Indonesian Merdeka Workers’ Cooperative, abbreviated as KOSPERMINDO.
KOSPERMINDO was established in 1999 and has been engaged in empowering and developing seaweed cultivation in South Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, since 2002. The approach of KOSPERMINDO is to assist local seaweed farmers by fostering and developing seaweed cultivation farmer groups.
KOSPERMINDO has more than 3000 seaweed farmers in South Sulawesi Province. The cooperative trades dried seaweed (buying seaweed from its members and non-members) for export and local market, including with the world’s largest agar producer, PT Agarindo. KOSPERMINDO, in cooperation with UNIDO Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP) Indonesia, is also involved in ensuring its members implement good farming and harvest practices to produce high quality agar. KOSPERMINDO has a small processing unit for producing food and drink products from Gracilaria seaweed. KOSPERMINDO handles around 600 tons of dried seaweed annually, valued at around USD 700,000, making it one of the most successful cooperatives in Indonesia.
Since 2016, KOSPERMINDO has been led by Ms. Samila. As a manager, Ms. Samila is responsible for the day-to-day management operations of the cooperative, including engaging with seaweed farmers, traders/collectors, and buyers.
In her role, Mrs. Samila does not differentiate workers based on gender. She provides equal opportunities to men and women who play equally important roles both in upstream (farming) and downstream (post-harvest processing) activities. Since seaweed farming is mainly a coastal family-based operation, the whole family is involved in the farming process. Women are involved in all steps; preparing seaweed seeds, taking care of the seaweed farm, maintenance, the drying process, and trading.
Ms. Samila has years of experience working closely with both men and women. “Generally, in Indonesian culture, women used to be associated with working at home and men work outside of the house. However, currently, the norm and people’s mindset are mostly changing in many parts of Indonesia, where the role of men and women is equal. My experience working with women shows that women are more responsible, conscientious, and consistent in their work; I could divide and manage the right jobs by knowing each person’s abilities without seeing it’s women or men. Therefore, in promoting a job, I will not look at whether it is a man or a woman. It must be according to their abilities or performance.
