Eucheuma is it's scientific name, seaweed its common name but to us Filipinos we call it "guso".Guso grows naturally in our warm slow moving seawater hence it's no wonder why we are one of its biggest exporters both in its fresh and dried form. Carageenan ,a material for your ice cream, cosmetics and many drugs is a product extracted from this seaweed.
In Philippines ,eucheuma farming is fast becoming a trend simply because it's not capital intensive .All you need is a seed stock, buoy, a plastic line to hang those seeds for couple of weeks and a platform to dry them. In Philippines, basketball courts are not just for the sports enthusiast but also serve as drying station for almost anything like fish, guso and rice among others.In it's dried form it reduces to at most 1/4 of its original volume but double the value when sold in the market for food.
So if you want to try your luck as an entrepreneur why not try this eucheuma business. No need for pesticides or mechanized tractors nor heavy paper work. Moreover , with the thrust for food security and fisheries empowerment I am sure you can find the technical assistance from both government and non governnment centers. Banks nowadays are more open to loans by cooperative too.
Do not forget as well that the fresh form also have a lot of demand. Our Filipino palate is familiar to pickled guso because it's easy to prepare and a cheap source of iodine. With good technique, one can make guso in natural vinegar and herbs last for months that it can be sold as well like this. I like mine with green mangoes, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, onions, pepper that writing this I come to think I should make one for the holidays as a gift.
So go explore the many business ideas you can make of this Eucheuma. Who knows it might just be the break you're waiting for