History
From a workers’ cooperative founded in 1999 to a seaweed network serving farmer groups across Sulawesi.
Kospermindo — Koperasi Serikat Pekerja Merdeka Indonesia, the Indonesian Merdeka Workers’ Cooperative — was established in 1999. Since 2002 it has worked to empower and develop seaweed cultivation in South and Central Sulawesi, building and supporting seaweed farmer groups based on industrial clusters.
Indonesia’s long coastline holds enormous potential for seaweed. That potential led us, in 2002, to launch seaweed cultivation through BDS Kospermindo, providing technical assistance under a programme of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs of the Republic of Indonesia.
To make that work last, Kospermindo developed the Farmer Group Centre model: mentoring, savings and loan institutions, and partnerships with factories and exporters that guarantee farmers a market for their harvest.
Milestones
| 1999 | Kospermindo is founded as the Indonesian Merdeka Workers’ Cooperative. |
| 2002 | BDS Kospermindo begins supporting seaweed cultivation in South and Central Sulawesi with the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs. |
| 2008 | 1st Indonesia Seaweed Forum, 27–30 October. |
| 2010 | GEMARI SEHAT, the Indonesian healthy seaweed eating movement — Mall Ratu Indah, Makassar, 29–31 October. |
| 2011 | Indonesia Seaweed Forum 2011. |
Organisation structure
Further reading
- Seaweed as Everyday Food: Lessons from the GEMARI SEHAT Movement
- Indonesian Sea Grass Eat Movement “Healthy Heavy” — our 2010 report on GEMARI SEHAT