Challenges faced by women’s business group producing seafood-based products in Jeneponto Regency, South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia

The regency of Jeneponto is the third regency/district with highest number of poor residents in South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. However, the regency has high production of seafood as more than 63% of its area is located on the coastline. According to Indonesian Statistic Bureau (BPS), this area produced 16,470 tons of fish and 17,045 tons of seaweed in 2016, but almost all of the entire catch was sold in its raw form, without any added value. The Division of Marine and Fishery of the Jeneponto district has encouraged women in the district to form groups and process seafood into products, such as seaweed crackers, Cooked fish, fish balls, and fish sticks. However, the women groups face challenges to run their businesses, and as a result, they have not been able to improve the family income significantly. The objectives of the paper are to investigate challenges face by the women groups in Pabiringa village of Jeneponto district to run their businesses, and to propose ways to overcome the challenges. We use qualitative approach by conducting focus group discussions with the women groups, and in-depth interviews with representatives from the local government (Head of Pabiringa Village, Head of Division of Marine and Fishery and Head of Division of Cooperative and Small and Businesses of Jeneponto district). The results show that challenges faced by the women group can be grouped into production, marketing, and financial aspects, and the groups need a comprehensive approach consisting of mentoring and creating market for their products.