According to the Sun Star, in an interview, George Campeon, regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Southern Mindanao, said it was proposed that the establishment of a seaweed seedling plant in Kota Kinabalu is needed in order to strengthen the partnership of the member countries in seaweed production.
Campeon said the proposal is timely considering that the demand for seaweeds for both local and international markets is very high.
"That is why the prices of seaweeds shoot up because of the demand," Campeon told Sun Star, adding that the prices of dried seaweeds now are pegged between P70 to P80 a kilo.
But Campeon claimed that financial matters, such as the budget for the establishment of the seedling plant, were not included in the discussion.
Nations Brought Together Over Seaweed
GENERAL - Joint production, processing and marketing of seaweeds in the four member countries of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines (Bimp) sub-region were among the agenda discussed during a meeting last week in Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah in Malaysia.