Social structure of seaweed farmers in border areas: cases in seaweed farmers in Nunukan Island

Seaweed is one of the commodities of the high economic value of the marine and fisheries sector in the district of Nunukan and it has been well developed. This business has formed a new social structure consisting of capital owners or traders and producers. This research aims to analyze the activity patterns of seaweed farming and the construction of social structures in seaweed farming communities. In-depth interviews were conducted in April 2018 interviewing a total of 83 respondents in Nunukan Island. We analyzed the pattern of seaweed business activities Production on input ownership; Source of acquisition of seaweed business assets; the source of asset capital. We also find that most of seaweed cultivation business based on farmer's capital and by themselves. However, they use labor for pre-production and post-production from workers in the villages and during production, fewer workers are needed. Furthermore, the social structure of the community in the seaweed business on Nunukan Island can be grouped into 4 levels. namely seaweed wholesaler (1st level); peluncur/small seaweed traders (2nd level), seaweed farmers (3th level) and seaweed workers (4th level).