Members of the Alumar Farmers and Fishermen Association (AFFAS), Bohol Seaweeds Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (BSFAC), Getafe Fisherfolk Marketing Cooperative (GEFMACO), and Mabini Fisherfolk Marketing Cooperative (MAFMACO) eagerly wait for the completion of the seaweeds storage facility in Getafe, Bohol as the subproject registers a 95% physical progress rate as of August 15, 2021.

The subproject will directly benefit some 200 seaweed farmers and can further accommodate non-members in the years to come. Once complete, majority of seaweed farmers in Bohol can fully utilize the facility, as it will eventually end the struggle of time-consuming and costly transport activities while ensuring that top tier seaweeds are delivered to various seaweed processors.

According to AFFAS President Artemio Ompalid, the storage facility will be a huge help in storing their seaweeds. “Seeing it in its almost completed phase raises my excitement and joy. Murag gibayaw mi sa kalami! Naa na jud mi kabutangan sa among produkto na matawag namo nga amo-a. (It feels like I am on cloud nine because we now have a safe place to store our seaweeds that we can call our own,”) he said.

While waiting for the enterprise’s working capital from the Department of Agriculture’s -Philippine Rural Development Project, the AFFAS and three of its cluster members have harvested a total of 34 tons of seaweeds from April to May 2021, after receiving 123,000 kilograms of seedlings from the DA-PRDP in February 2021. Once AFFAS receives the working capital, enterprise operations will automatically begin on a province-wide seaweed consolidation scale. (Bexmae Jumao-as, Writer, RPCO 7)