Improving Margins of the Indonesian Seaweed Supply Chain Upstream Players: The application of the Kaizen Approach

The margin obtained at the upstream in the Indonesian commercial seaweed supply chain is generally small and makes the motivation for business development low. The research aimed to identify the opportunities to overcome these problems. The research conducted with the Kaizen analysis approach that seven upstream business nodes were chosen at three locations: two Gracilaria sp. farmers and one Gracilaria sp. trader in Brebes, one Eucheumatoid farmer and one intermediary trader in Serang, also two Eucheumatoid farmers in Sumenep. The results show some inefficiency in several loci in the business lines of intermediate farmers and traders. These include a gap on moisture content ( Gracilaria of 2 % and Eucheumatoid of 4 %), productivity of Gracilaria pond 0.6 t ha–1 yr–1 and its by-product is 50 %, while the productivity of Eucheumatoids was 10 %. The quality of dry Gracilaria is one grade only. All result loss of potential margin. Root problem analysis found several external factors outside the Kaizen domain and other internal aspects can be corrected through intervention. The Kaizen analysis determined some simple interventions including improvement of cultivation embankments and extension of maintenance periods, use of monofilament net to dry seaweed, optimization of cultivation spacing, and use of moisture checker.