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The Development of Sustainable Livelihoods for Peasant-Fisher in Rote Island East

Nusa Tenggara
Conference Paper · July 2016
DOI: 10.21063/ICTIS.2016.1021

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 Internati onal Conference on Technology, Innovatio n, and
Society (ICTIS) 2016

The Develop ment of Sustainable Livelihoods for

Peasant-Fisher in Rote Island East Nusa Tenggara
Chaterina Agusta Paulus
Department of Aquatic Resource Management, Universitas Nusa Cendana, Indonesia

Abstract
Sustainable development has now been widely adopted as main developme nt paradigm since
late 1980s, including the man agement of natural resources such as fisheries and livestock. This
development paradigm must also be adopted by East Nusa Tenggara Provinc e when managing
its fisheries and livestock resources as well as other economic sectors. Within national
development framework of e conomic development acceleration, known as MP3EI, East Nusa
Tenggara, along with Bali an d West Nusa Tenggara is part the fifth corridor of MP3EI which
main priority of developing fi sheries, husbandry and tourism sectors. This paper aims to
provide a review of developing fis heries and husbandry sector in East Nusa Te nggara based on
sustainable development principles. Base on this principle and MP3EI framew ork, this research
aims to (1) determine the effeect of the non-fisheries diversification for incom e of peasant-
fisher in Rote, and (2) determine the productivity of each non fishing effort. T his research was
conducted using survey method by means of interviews and focus discussion group,
experiments and participant observation. The results showed that diversification through non-
fishery resources can increas e the average income of the peasant-fisher, each fisheries effort
(FE) 3,730,000 IDR; FE + w eaving effort (WE) 6,780,000 IDR; FE + chicken livestock (CL)
4,774,375 IDR; FE + pig live stock (PL) 6,170,000 IDR; FE + WE + CL + PL 10,264,375 IDR.
The measurement results on the productivity of non-fishery enterprises obtained the average
production (IDR/ month) respectively weaving effort (WE) 3,050,000 IDR; chicken livestock
(CL) 1,044,375 IDR and pig livestock (PL) 2,440,000 IDR. Based on the research results, it can
be concluding that the development of non-fishery diversification can increase the income of the
peasant-fisher. Therefore, it can be recommended that effort to increase income of peasant-
fisher could be done through the development of non-fishery enterprises.

Keywords: peasant-fisher; sus tainable livelihoods; MP3EI

Correspondence should be addresse d to paulus.chaterina@gmail.com

Copyright © 2016. This is an open acccess article distributed under the Creative Commons Attri bution
License. Available online at http://eproceedin g.itp.ac.id/

INTRODUCTION
Located in southwest of the island of Timor, Rote is one of the districts in Ea st Nusa Tenggara
province that has enormous natural resources, yet has not been managed optimally. The majority
of Rotenese are living as farmers and fisherman and poverty is stil l a major issue on this island.
This is rather para dox given the richness if natural resource surrou ndings. There are several
factors that contribute to the poverty of this coastal community. First, the prolonged illegal
fishing in this area has contributed to the loss of earning that could ha ve been earned by local
fishermen (Fox and Senn, 2002). Secondly, the Timor Sea oil spill which occurred during the
year 2009 might have sig nificant ecological impact which could reduce the productivity of
fishermen (Paulus, 2014). In addition, the transformation of economic activities of cultivated
based activities into tourism has reduced the potential of seaweed cultivation,, which is also the
source of livelihood for coast al people in this island.
There are many wa ys to alleviate poverty in coastal community. Diversifying their source
of income is one of th em. Nevertheless, such an effort might be hinder ed by that fact that fishing
communities are som etimes less aware that the condition of the aqu atic ecosystem is

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constantly changing from time to time, so it may affect the income of fishing communities. In
addition, the low skills of fishing communities to diversify their fishing effort and their strong
attachment to the operation of one type of fishing gear contributes to the onset of the poverty of
fishing communities. Such a strong attachment to one type of fishing gear to catch certain type
of fish, making it difficult to increase their catch, hence their income, when fishing is in low
season. Therefore, diversification of fishing effort is needed to help fishing communities in
addressing the problem of poverty.
Institution plays a greater role in diversifying coastal economic activities. Such an
example is found in coastal fishing communities of Pandansimo, Bantul, Yogyakarta where the
diversification of income among coastal communities could be used as a model in Rote case. In
Pandansimo, in addition to fishing, fishing communities engage in livestock farming, so that
when fishing is in low season, they are still able to earn income from other activities
(Rakhmanda, 2014). Income diversification aims to increase overall family income of coastal
communities. Hence, member of fishing family is likely to engage in economic activities.
Women, in particular, are group of coastal communities who are actively support their husband
in income diversification. Therefore, supporting women groups to engage productively in
coastal economics activities could contribute greatly to the overall livelihood of fishing
communities. Lesson learned from Pandansimo coastal economic diversification could be used
to alleviate poverty of fishing communities in Rote Island. Optimization of business
diversification based on local advantages, such as aquaculture, agriculture and animal
husbandry in Rote Island needs to be done in order to increase the income of fishermen fishing
communities so that people no longer need to look for fish to Australian waters so that cases of
illegal fishing can be avoided as early as possible.

METHODS
Location and Time Research
This study was carried out in Nembrala Village, District of West Rote for 8 (eight) months from
April to December 2015.

Research methods
Survey method based on interview and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with coastal
communities was used in this study. As many as thirty respondents were interviewed to collect
information on their livelihood and fishing activities.

Data analysis
Data obtained from this study were tabulated and analyzed according to the objective of this
study. An Analysis Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to identify the development model of
livelihood diversification. Simple benefit cost analysis is used to determine the productivity and
revenue analysis of income, while analytical methods of comparison exponential (MPE) was
used to determine the priority order of alternative types of business non-fisheries.

RESULTS
General Conditions of Respondents
Respondents in this study are traditional fishermen with the main livelihood as fishing using
simple equipment and additional economic activities as seaweed farmers. From interviews with
respondents, it is found that fishing cannot be carried out throughout the year as a result of the
change of seasons. There are certain months in a year that fishermen do not go fishing due to
low season, and they engage in seaweed cultivation. Such as situation puts the level of
livelihood of traditional fishermen remains low. In addition to seaweed farming, it is found that
fishers also engage in other economic activities as complementary such as livestock (pig and
chicken), and fish processing. Nevertheless, these activities are still carried out traditionally,
especially for live stock of pork and chicken, so as not to contribute significantly to household
income of fishermen.

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Identification of alternative livelihoods for fishermen in Nemberala Village

To develop alternative livelih oods for Nembrala village, there are factors (ele ments) that affect
both support and undermine efforts livelihood development. Determination off the key elements
as an element of alternative s can be done using analysis tools namely An alytical Hierarchy
Process (AHP). AHP is the result of expert opinion (expert judgment) to e ncompass a wide
range of information from so me of the elements that influence the settlement of an issue (Saaty,
1993).
In principle AHP work to simplify a complex issue that is not struct ured, strategic and
dynamic into parts that can be arranged in a hierarchy. In AHP the order o f priority for each
element is presented in the form of numerical values or percentage. An AHP analysis for
livelihood development in the Nembrala village was conducted in five specif ied level. Level 1
focus on the analysis of deveelopment alternative livelihoods; level 2 describes the factors that
influence the development of alternative livelihoods. These are human resources (HR), natural
resources (NR), capital, mark eting, and government policies; Level 3 describ es actors and their
role on development. These are local government, fishermen, housewives, cooperative, and
universities; Level 4 is the pu rpose of the development of alternative livelihoo ds, which
include expanding employment, incr easing public revenues, regional development, th e
development of superior potency, and increased local revenues. Level 5 presents alternative
development of alternative livelihoods which includes business development of pigs, chick ens,
weaving, and fish salted/dried squid. Selection of four alternative livelihood is based on the
analysis of the potential that has been done on the test site and also an alternative business that
never existed and was developing in the Nembrala Village, Rote. Selection of alternati ve
livelihoods to fishing activities based on AH P analysis is presented in Figure 1.

Fig. 1: Results of Analysis Hierarchy Process Alternative Livelihood Development

Based on Fig. 1 abo ve, it shows that the factors that influence the development of
alternative livelihoods of fishermen in the Nembrala Village - Rote is capital value with highest
index of 0.480, followed by a factor of natural resources 0.281, the factor of human resources
0.150, marketing factor 0.055, and the lowest factor of 0.033 policies. This suggests that the
development of alternative fishing livelihoods in the Nembrala Village - Rot e need to fix the
capital aspect fishermen thr ough the expansion of access of fishermen to obtain a business
model, but it is also necessary to reform towards optimizing the utilization of natural resources
that can be accessed by fishermen as a basis for developing alternativ e livelihoods and
improvement of the human resource factor that focuses on increasing fishing capacity in
accessing various information and technology related to the developme nt of alternative
livelihood of fishermen.

Berdasarkan Gambar. 1 di atas, itu menunjukkan

bahwa faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi
pengembangan mata pencaharian alternatif nelayan
di Desa Nembrala - Rote adalah nilai modal dengan
indeks tertinggi 0,480, diikuti oleh faktor sumber
daya alam 0,281, faktor manusia sumber daya 0,150,
faktor pemasaran 0,055, dan faktor terendah 0,033
kebijakan. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa
pengembangan mata pencaharian nelayan alternatif
di Desa Nembrala - Rot e perlu memperbaiki aspek
permodalan nelayan untuk memperluas akses
nelayan untuk mendapatkan model bisnis, tetapi juga
perlu reformasi untuk mengoptimalkan pemanfaatan
sumber daya alam. sumber daya yang dapat diakses
oleh nelayan sebagai dasar untuk mengembangkan
mata pencaharian alternatif dan peningkatan faktor
sumber daya manusia yang berfokus pada
peningkatan kapasitas perikanan dalam mengakses
berbagai informasi dan teknologi yang berkaitan
dengan pengembangan mata pencaharian alternatif
nelayan
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In terms of actor or component which plays a greater role in encouraging the

development of alternative livelihoods of fishermen, it is found that the actor who has the
highest index value is housewives at 0.560, followed by fishermen 0.211, cooperative 0.106,
local governments 0.086, and the lowest is the college with the score of 0.038. Based on the
results of the analysis, the development of livelihood alternative to fishing is largely determined
by the involvement of housewives because they have plenty of time to develop alternative
livelihoods such as business weaving and livestock business. Nevertheless, fisherman have also
potential to develop their alternative livelihoods, especially in periods where they cannot go
fishing and seaweed cultivation cannot be carried out. The presence of the fishing cooperatives
is also important to encourage the development of alternative livelihoods, especially in efforts to
raise funds together that can be used for the development of non-fishing businesses.
Based on the analysis of the purpose of the development of alternative livelihoods for
fishermen, this study shows that the goal to increase revenues give the highest index of 0.461,
followed by goals for the expansion of employment 0.271, the goal of developing the potential
winning 0.122, the goal of regional development 0.105, and the lowest for the purpose of
improvement local revenue. This suggests that efforts to increase household income of
fishermen could be done through diversification, especially in the field of non fisheries such as
weaving and livestock business. In addition, further development of household activities of
fishermen for alternative livelihoods could be done by expanding employment opportunities,
especially housewives fishermen and children.

Dalam hal aktor atau komponen yang memainkan

peran lebih besar dalam mendorong pengembangan
mata pencaharian alternatif nelayan, ditemukan
bahwa aktor yang memiliki nilai indeks tertinggi
adalah ibu rumah tangga di 0,560, diikuti oleh
nelayan 0,211, koperasi 0,106, pemerintah daerah
0,086, dan yang terendah adalah perguruan tinggi
dengan skor 0,038. Berdasarkan hasil analisis,
pengembangan mata pencaharian alternatif untuk
penangkapan ikan sebagian besar ditentukan oleh
keterlibatan ibu rumah tangga karena mereka
memiliki banyak waktu untuk mengembangkan mata
pencaharian alternatif seperti bisnis tenun dan bisnis
ternak. Namun demikian, nelayan juga memiliki
potensi untuk mengembangkan mata pencaharian
alternatif mereka, terutama pada periode di mana
mereka tidak bisa pergi memancing dan budidaya
rumput laut tidak dapat dilakukan. Kehadiran
koperasi perikanan juga penting untuk mendorong
pengembangan mata pencaharian alternatif, terutama
dalam upaya mengumpulkan dana bersama yang
dapat digunakan untuk pengembangan bisnis non-
perikanan.

Berdasarkan analisis tujuan pengembangan mata

pencaharian alternatif bagi nelayan, penelitian ini
menunjukkan bahwa tujuan untuk meningkatkan
pendapatan memberikan indeks tertinggi 0,461,
diikuti oleh tujuan untuk perluasan lapangan kerja
0,271, tujuan mengembangkan potensi kemenangan
0,122 , tujuan pembangunan daerah 0,105, dan
terendah untuk tujuan peningkatan pendapatan
daerah. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa upaya
peningkatan pendapatan rumah tangga nelayan dapat
dilakukan melalui diversifikasi, terutama di bidang
non perikanan seperti usaha tenun dan peternakan.
Selain itu, pengembangan lebih lanjut kegiatan
rumah tangga nelayan untuk mata pencaharian
alternatif dapat dilakukan dengan memperluas
kesempatan kerja, terutama ibu rumah tangga
nelayan dan anak-anak.
Simulation of Fishery and Non-Fishery Efforts
The simulation of non-fishing businesses is divided into three types of businesses namely:
Business of Weaving (UT), Poultry (UTA), and Pigs Livestock (UTB). The result of the
simulation is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Mean dan Deviation Standards of Business Type

Types of Businesses (IDR/Year)
Business
Fishery
of
 VARIABLES Efforts Poultry (UTA) Pigs Livestock (UTB)
Weaving
(UP)
(UT)
Control Technology Control Technology
Mean 3,730,000 3,050,000 555,937 1,044,375 1,431,785 2,440,000
SDEV 376,600 476,445 65,069 133,775 124,412 188,414

As can be seen from Table 1, the highest income earned from fishing is
3,730,000±376,600 IDR, followed by weaving (3,050,000±476,445 IDR), pig breeding business
with technology (188,414±2,440,000 IDR), pig breeding business without technology (control)
of 124,412±1,431,785 IDR, chic ken farming technology with 1,044,375±133,775 IDR, and the
lowest is chicken farming without the technology of 124,412±1,431,785 IDR. High average
income from fishing is due to the fact that fishing and seaweed farming are the main business,
while the business weaving is a skill passed down culturally with its economic value depends on
market share of foreign tourists. In the meantime, local farming businesses such as pigs and
chickens are complementary business performed particularly by fishermen in anticipation for
loss of income due to low seasons. The results show that although the cattle business has
economic potential as a source of income for fishermen, but it is still managed traditionally or
without the application of technology.
Based on the results of pilot project with the technology for pigs and chickens, it shows
that the application of technologies such as improved feeding and health management could
increase income of fishermen compared with traditional methods of rising the same cattle.
Income derived from business of pigs with the application of technology provides an average

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 International Conference on Technology, Innovation, and Society

income as high as 2,440,000±188,414 IDR compared without technology of 1,431,785±124,412

IDR. Similarly, poultry with the application of technology could earn 1,044,370±133,775 IDR
compared with no technology 555.937±65,069 IDR. When analyzing the total household
income of fishermen, the results show that fishing has the highest value of 3,730,000 IDR,
followed by fisheries and weaving 6,780,000 IDR, fisheries and traditional pig breeding
business and technological treatment of 5,161,785 IDR and 6,170,000 IDR, fisheries and
chicken farming of traditional and technological treatment of 4,285,937 IDR and 4,774,375
IDR, fisheries combined with weaving and pig livestock and poultry is traditionally 8,767,722
IDR and fishing effort combined with weaving and pig livestock and poultry in the input
technology of 10,264,375 IDR.
The results showed that the total household income of fishermen much lower is they
rely on fishing effort only. This number is much lower than that obtained Asih and Laapo
(2009) who found that the total earning of fishers’ household in the district of Ampanan
amounted to 8.192 million USD per fisherman per year. The business diversification obtained in
this study differs as much as 8,767,722 IDR with that Asih and Laapo (2009).

Priority Efforts
In order to determine the priority efforts, an MPE calculation (Marimin, 2004) was conducted
using the following steps.
1. Determining the alternative of expert opinion questionnaire, namely: UP + UT, UP + UTA,
UP + UTB and UP + UT + UTB.
2. Determine the criteria and weighting the criteria of expert opinions, namely: Market
Demand (Weight Criteria = 4), Selling Price Product (Weight Criteria = 4), HR (Weight
Criteria = 3), Access to Raw Materials (Weight Criteria = 3) and Power Adaptation effort
Against External Factors (Weight Criteria = 4).
3. Create a calculation table to calculate the MPE value and sequence or highest rank, as in
Table 2.
4. Taking the results of two best/highest priority extra effort.

Table 2: MPE Calculation results for Type of Priority Business in Nemberala Village
CRITERIA

Power
Selling Access To Adaptation MPE PRIORITY
ALTERNATIVES Market Human Effort
Price Raw VALUE BUSINESS
Demand Products Resource Materials Against
External
Factors

UP+UT 4 4 3 3 4 822 2
UP+UTA 2 3 4 2 3 250 4
UP+UTB 4 3 4 4 4 721 3
UP+ UT+UTB 4 4 4 4 4 896 1
WEIGHT 4 4 3 3 4

Based on the results of the calculation of MPE, it is found that the priority for
developing fisheries and non-fisheries business is a combination of fishing effort, weaving
effort and pig livestock with a value of MPE at 896, followed by a combination of fishing effort
and weaving effort with a value of MPE at 822, and the pig livestock with MPE value for 721.
The choice of priority development of both combinations fisheries and non-fisheries (weave and
pig livestock) is due to unique characteristics of the Nembrala weaving effort and pig livestock

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 International Conference on Technology, Innovation, and Society

whereby the market demand is relatively high or high economic value. In addition, human
resources in fishing community of the Nembrala Village are knowable about the process of
production of weaving and pigs. They have also easy access to raw materials for weaving and
pigs, and high adaptability of businesses weaving and pigs.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results and the discussion above, it can be concluded that:
1) The development of non-fishery diversification can increase income of the traditional
fishermen in the order of priority I weaving effort (UT), priority II pigs livestock (UTB),
and the third priority poultry business.
2) The application of technology in the business of pig livestock and poultry through
improved feed and health management can increase income of fishermen compared with
pigs and chickens livestock by means of traditional pattern.
3) The highest household income could be earned from combination of fishing effort (UP),
weaving effort (UT), and the pig livestock (UTB).
4) The calculation of MPE showed that the highest value obtained is a combination of fishing
effort (UP) + weaving effort (UT) + pig livestock (UTB) of 896, followed by a
combination of fishing effort (UP) + weaving effort (UT) for 822, a combination of fishing
effort (UP) + pig livestock (UTB) amounted to 721, and the lowest on the combination of
fishing effort (UP) + chicken livestock (UTA) of 250.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is based on work supported by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher
Education of the Republic of Indonesia under grants Applied Research – MP3EI 2015. I would
also like to express my thanks to Ir. Umbu L. Sobang, M.Si and Marthen R. Pellokila, PhD for
their support as a team work in this research.

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DOI 10.21063/ICTIS.2016.1021 127

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