Dwi Ratna Hidayati, Mokh Rum and Nor Qomariyah
University of Trunojoyo Madura, Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture, Jl. Raya Telang PO BOX 2 Kamal Bangkalan, 69162, Indonesia
Hidayati, D. R., Rum, M. & Qomariyah, N. (2025). Evaluating seaweed value chain governance in Indonesia: The case of Madura Island. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 31(3), 447–454
Seaweed is a high-value product, which holds significant importance as an industrial and export item from Indonesia. Given the increasing stringent food safety and quality standards in global markets, there is an ongoing exploration to enhance its performance. However, the major producers are smallholder farmers facing challenges related to coordination within the chain and there are quality issues. This paper aims to empirically evaluate the governance of seaweed value chain in Indonesia. This paper particularly examined the maturity level of governance practice by focusing on vertical coordination, horizontal coordination, and the flow of information. A qualitative method was applied in Madura Island as a leading producer area in East Java, involving around 31 interviews (value chain players and stakeholders) and focus group discussion (FGD). The results confirmed that the seaweed value chain governance was operated in a low maturity-traditional system, despite the seaweed export orientation. The key players in Madura Island are farmers and traders with limited vertical coordination and asymmetrical information flow, thus providing the least value. The absence of large-scale industry in the study area has led to the limitation of chain performance in the island. Large-scale manufacturing companies are majorly from Java Island, which have control over the chain. Horizontal coordination is also insufficient to support farmers. The paper proposes to transform the practice into a managed chain and provides policy recommendations to facilitate governance practices improvement through standardised quality, information sharing-communication, farmer group empowerment, and sustainable practice.