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PRODUCTION PUSH A kelp processing plant and cold storage facility in Guan Wu enables year-round processing, higher market prices, and more jobs
For as far as the eye can see, beds of lanky green kelp dot the sea in tidy rows outside the village of An Kai on the Huangqi Peninsula in southeastern People’s Republic of China (PRC). For ages, farmers here have pulled kelp from the water in April and May and set it out in the sun to dry. Then they would hope it would not rain. With mildew and rot typically claiming 20–30% of every harvest, producers must sell the kelp as quickly as possible, typically at low prices.
Fisher Li Shao Xiong says he wishes for better times for the people of An Kai: “If we had a kelp processing plant here, we would get better prices and more women would have jobs.”
About 50 kilometers away is the village of Guan Wu where, until a few years ago, nearly half of its people lived below the poverty line. But a cold storage facility for kelp has dramatically changed life in Guan Wu.
When Lin Zhe Long returned to his home village in 1984 after serving in the army, he saw Guan Wu’s situation all too clearly. “We were using very old techniques for kelp culture. We needed new technologies —otherwise our incomes would never increase,” says Mr. Lin, who is now General Manager of Guan Wu Seafoods Development Co. (Ltd).
WAYS OF OLD WAYS OF OLD People in the village of An Kai follow traditional aquaculture practices
In 1995, the Guan Wu village committee built a simple salted kelp processing plant and established the community-owned Guan Wu Seafoods. In 1997, the company received a yuan (CNY)7.3 million ($882,000) loan from ADB through the Fujian Soil Conservation and Rural Development Project. Within a year, the community had used the loan to build a cold storage facility that allows year-round kelp processing, generating more employment opportunities and better market prices.
The company has established a nursery to produce kelp seedlings for the sea farmers, and hatcheries have been built for highvalue seafood such as abalone, sea urchin, grouper, flounder, and other rare fish.
More than 900 households in Guan Wu and adjacent villages are benefiting from the facility. Nearly all the households sell kelp, now at prices 25–30% more than before. In the peak season, the facility provides 700–800 jobs, mainly for women. Even in the off-season, the factory provides 150– 200 employment opportunities.
“Life is much better now than before,” says Mr. Lin proudly.
In the past few years, the village committee used more than CNY1.5 million ($181,000) from the company’s profits to improve public welfare by constructing roads, building sewage treatment facilities, and planting trees. The community has also established a foundation that sponsors scholarships for young people to pursue advanced studies.
“There is a Chinese saying, ‘Leave no one behind.’ We want everyone in our village to prosper,” says General Manager Lin. His vision seems to be coming true.
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