On Lembongan island, in South Indonesia, there are approximately 600 local families who rely on traditional seaweed farming as their main source of income. Crops can usually be collected every 35 days but the work is very labor intensive. The types of seaweed cultivated on Lembongan are mainly used as raw material for cosmetics products. More expensive seaweeds, such as wakame, used for food are mainly exported from Japan.
As tourism is gradually taking over farming as the most important industry of Lembongan island, many farmer families are finding that their children are more interested in working for the tourism related jobs. Few years ago approximately ten percent of local people were working for tourism, but it is estimated that the share is now closer to 25%. When observing the farmers on the fields, it is easy to notice that almost all of them are women and majority of high age. Men are not actively participating in the heaviest tasks of the work.