This gift supports seaweed farmers with their unusual harvest. Oxfam Unwrapped has funded training, equipment and support to help poor and vulnerable households improve and conserve seaweed stocks, and get a fairer price by developing marketing and business skills.

Buton, Muna, and Aru are small islands in Indonesia. The islands have high levels of poverty, with many households categorised as poor or very poor. Through Oxfam Unwrapped, 90 of these households received the training and equipment they needed to improve the way they farm seaweed.

Getting a better price

The price of seaweed depends on its quality. Poor households in Buton, Muna, and Aru did not have the knowledge or equipment they needed to cultivate and dry seaweed well. Often they had to sell seaweed that still contained salt and other unwanted materials, and it didn't fetch a good price at the market.

Training funded by Oxfam Unwrapped helped the seaweed farmers to dry their seaweed thoroughly, remove impurities and process the seaweed into foodstuffs. It also covered marketing skills to help people sell seaweed for a better price. The 90 households then received seaweed cultivation kits containing the information and tools they needed.