Portrait of the Welfare of Fishermen of Jambi Province

Lately, the cloud cover the fate of Indonesian fishermen, especially small fishermen. Climate change every year affects the fishing season and has a direct impact on fishermen's income. Not to mention the local government programs that open a lot of investment in coastal areas such as tin mining, then pollute sea water and ultimately reduce catches. The production of marine capture fisheries is still promising in Indonesian waters. The potential of marine fisheries still needs to be managed carefully by the government. The programs implemented in the fishing industry sector must always turn to fishermen groups in order to empower business actors at the forefront of Indonesian maritime affairs. One of the indicators used to measure the welfare of farmers is the Farmer's Exchange Rate (NTP). NTP is useful for measuring the ability to exchange products sold by farmers with products needed by farmers in household production and consumption. The NTP figure shows the level of competitiveness of agricultural products compared to other products. On this basis, efforts to specialize products and improve the quality of agricultural products can be carried out. NTP is built by five (5) sub-sectors, one of which is the Fisheries sub-sector. This sub-sector consists of capture fisheries/fishing and aquaculture.

What is the picture of the welfare of fishermen in Jambi Province?

Since 2019, the Fisherman's Exchange Rate in the Province has always been above 100. NTP is more than 100, meaning that farmers have a deficit. The increase in production prices was relatively smaller than the increase in the prices of consumer goods. Farmers' incomes fell, less than their expenditures. Throughout 2022, the NTN of Jambi Province is above 110, but there is a tendency to decrease every month. NTN January - July 2022 Jambi Province amounted to 113.23 which was down 0.02 percent compared to NTN in 2021 in the same period. Farmer's Exchange Rate (NTP) is the ratio of the price index received by farmers (It) to the index of price paid by farmers (Ib). The price index received by farmers shows the development of producer prices for agricultural products. Through Ib can be seen fluctuations in the prices of goods and services consumed by rural communities, especially farmers who are the largest part of rural communities, as well as fluctuations in the prices of goods and services needed to produce agricultural products. In January 2022, NTN fell by 1.03 percent. This happened because It decreased by 0.45 percent, while Ib rose by 0.58 percent. The decrease in It was caused by the decrease in It in the marine catching group (particularly for marine shrimp, thorns, and sea crabs) by 1.18 percent, while the general catching group (particularly with betutu, lais, tilapia, and sepat fish commodities) increased by 1 percent. In February 2022, NTN fell by 0.37 percent. This happened because It decreased by 0.01 percent, while Ib rose by 0.36 percent. The decrease in It was caused by the decrease in It in the fishing group in public waters (especially betutu fish, betok and tilapia commodities) by 0.37 percent. Meanwhile, fishing groups at sea (particularly for thorn fish, Sembilang, and pomfret) increased by 0.17 percent. In March 2022, NTN fell by 0.77 percent. This happened because It rose by 0.26 percent, while Ib rose by 1.03 percent. The decrease in It was caused by the decrease in It in the fishing group at sea (particularly for pleasures, thorns, and mackerel) by 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, fishing groups in public waters (especially saluang, lais, and cork) increased by 0.80 percent. In April 2022, NTN rose by 1.78 percent. This happened because It rose by 2.56 percent, while Ib rose by 0.77 percent. The increase in It was caused by the increase in It in the fishing group in public waters (especially aquaculture, lais, and catfish commodities) which increased by 2.23 percent and in the marine fishing group (particularly for sea crab, nineg, gladin, and mullet commodities) by 2.73 percent. In May 2022, NTN rose by 0.09 percent. This happened because It rose by 0.48 percent, while Ib rose by 0.39 percent. The increase in It was caused by the increase in It in the fishing group in public waters (especially aquaculture, toman, and lais commodities) which increased by 2.87 percent. Meanwhile, the fishing group at sea (particularly the pleasure commodities, pomfret, and sea prawns) decreased by an average of 0.75 percent. In June 2022, NTN fell by 2.21 percent. This happened because It fell by 0.98 percent, while Ib rose by 1.27 percent. The decrease in It was caused by the decrease in It in the fishing group in public waters (especially aquaculture, saluang, and catfish) by 1.63 percent and the fishing group in the sea (especially the pleasure commodities, mackerel, and sea shrimp) decreased by an average of 0 ,63 percent. In July 2022, NTN fell by 0.88 percent. This happened because It increased by 0.01 percent, lower than the 0.90 percent increase in Ib. The increase in It was caused by the increase in It in the fishing group at sea (particularly pomfret, gulamah, and nineg commodities) which increased by an average of 0.13 percent, while the fishing group in public waters (especially toman, betok and catfish commodities) decreased by 0.21 percent. Throughout 2022, the welfare of farmers in the capture fisheries sub-sector in Jambi Province is quite encouraging, even in second place after the smallholder plantation sub-sector. However, the presence of technology is a new challenge in an effort to increase the competitiveness of fisheries in Jambi Province. The gap in upstream-downstream technology between fishermen and the processing industry makes fishermen who are dominated by small fishermen even more left behind. However, some efforts still need to be made. A more harmonious policy needs to be reformulated. In addition, the fate of fishermen must still be fought for because they are the frontline guards of domestic maritime potential.