Men in small wooden boats come in from a day of harvesting seaweed in the Celebes Sea off of a small island in the Philippines. They hand their fresh harvests to women who carefully carry the heavy bunches up rickety wooden ladders to stilt houses teetering over the sea. Imilita Mawaldani Hikanti, along with a group of other women processors, then begin to prepare it for sale to support their families. To many people, the importance of seaweed isn’t as obvious as that of fish catches or harvested crops. But for producers on the island province of Tawi-Tawi in the far south of the Philippines, farming agal-agal, the local name for Eucheuma and Kappaphycus seaweeds, isn’t just a way of life—it is their life.

Farmers in PH seaweed capital learn to adapt amid challenges. (2025, June 17). Manila Standard, p. C1.