In a recent visit by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Tanzania, a villager of Imekua, Ms Asha Bakari, 35, told The Citizen that she grew up cultivating this crop with her family and to a considerable extent it enabled their family to earn a living and maintain themselves.

 

WWF officials visited Mtwara to assess the progress of various projects facilitated by the Beach Management Units (BMUs), which are groups of villagers, who volunteered to protect marine species, including fighting against illegal fishing.

 

Ms Bakari, however, said despite their honest efforts, seaweed farming had not benefited them much. Their main buyer, a Zanzibar company, buys the crop at a very low price.

 

"Although the company has been buying seaweeds from us for many years, the business has not benefitted us very much because we sell 1kg of seaweeds at just Sh400. This cannot be profitable taking into account the current cost of living," she said.

 

But this situation differs from other areas like Zanzibar, where seaweed business is booming and is of great benefit to farmers.

 

The creation of a cluster programme has added value to seaweed production as attested by Ms Mwajuma Mwinyi, a Zanzibar seaweed farmer.

 

The 40-year-old woman earns more money by making seaweed by-products than selling it in its raw form. It is the cluster programme that has earned her techniques of adding value to her products.

 

"Before joining the cluster programme, I used to sell 1kg of seaweed at Sh400, but now I can make up to Sh30,000 out of it because of making seaweed soap," she said.

 

The mother of six said seaweed farming had enabled her to earn some money to pay school fees for her children and make some savings. "I am proud that I'm able to contribute to the family income instead of depending for everything on my husband," she said.

 

Ms Mwinyi is among the 3,000 Zanzibar entrepreneurs, who benefit from technologies they learned from study groups under the cluster programme. A cluster is a shared set of ideas in a specialised field.

 

The concept of cluster is practised in many countries across Africa and beyond. There are 70 cluster programmes in Tanzania, six out of these are in Zanzibar. These groups make use of a triple helix model, a system that brings together the government and various stakeholders. The seaweed cluster stands out to be the most successful in Tanzania. The group partners with scientists from the Zanzibar Institute of Marine Science and the government through the Commission for Science and Technology (Costech).

 

While the government allocates some funds to the programme, scientists provide technical guidance and farmers apply what they learn from the scientists.

 

According to a British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC) article published in Zanzibar in 2014, Zanzibar is historically the third largest exporter of seaweeds in the world after the Philippines and Indonesia.

 

But exports fell to 4,000 tonnes in 2013 from record 15,000 tonnes in 2012.

 

"The quality of Zanzibar's seaweeds is better than in other places," said Zanzibar Exporters Association secretary-general Khamis Issa Mohammed. But he noted that his competitors had a comparative advantage of having a reliable market.

 

Zanzibar's seaweeds are exported to China, Korea, Vietnam, Denmark, Spain, France and the United States and used for making various cosmetics, lotions, toothpastes, medicine and food products. In China, seaweeds are eaten as vegetables.

 

Seaweeds contribute almost $8 million (Sh17.6 billion) to Zanzibar's economy a year. "Half of it goes straight to the pockets of farmers," said Mr Mohammed.

 

From what Zanzibar's seaweed farmers and traders earn, Mtwara still lags behind in terms of awareness creation on modern farming methods, how farmers can produce competitive products for sell and so on.

 

Researchers suggest that challenges, which should be addressed to improve seaweed production in the country include access to financial support and partnership with other local and foreign stakeholders. This will boost seaweed production and business.

 

There is a need for Mtwara seaweed stakeholders, like those in Zanzibar, to access training in entrepreneurial skills and start producing soap, cosmetics, fertilisers and for the extraction of industrial gums and chemicals. Seaweeds can also be used to make juice.

 

The farmers should also be supported by introducing small and middle enterprises (SMEs) that will help them get small loans that can help them initiate small-scale businesses related to seaweed farming like how SMEs in Zanzibar has helped them by giving them capital for manufacturing powder and soap made from seaweeds and sell the products.

 

In August last year, Zanzibar launched its first ever seaweed day named 'Mwani National Day'. It aimed at encouraging farmers to produce more and expand the market of their crop locally and abroad.

 

The farmers described the event as an opportunity to show or market different products from seaweeds, sharing ideas about processing and how to address the challenges facing them.

 

Speaking during the launch of National Mwani Day (NMD), a senior researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences (at the University of Dar es Salaam) and leader of Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Initiative (ZASCI), Dr Flower Msuya, appealed to the government to help organise study tours in countries like Indonesia and Philippines, where seaweed farming had advanced. She noted that seaweed products should be approved by the Bureau of Standards to enable farmers to participate in international and local exhibitions.

 

It is in the Zanzibar government's policy plan and the 2015/20 ruling party (CCM) manifesto to encourage both local and foreign investors to invest in seaweed production.

 

"In 2014, the government exported about 13,000 tonnes of seaweeds, gaining Sh6 billion with increased market and good price. Crop yield can double in the future," said Zanzibar minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Livestock and Fisheries Hamad Rashid Mohamed on National Mwani Day.

 

In Zanzibar, seaweeds are reported to be the third foreign currency earner after tourism and cloves. The government targets to increase production from the current below 15,000 tonnes to 20,000 tonnes by 2020 through improved farm management practices and alternative farming methods.

 

Another farmer from Mtwara, Ms Mwanaisha Haji, explained that there were various techniques for seaweed farming in Tanzania. She said they included a deep water technique though which a seaweed farm was kept underwater all the time.

 

The other one is through a raft method, which is basically a floating lines technique, which involves anchors using stones and buoys to mark the farm. This is also performed in deep waters.

 

Apart from the two, there is also a 'peg and line' method, which is the easiest technique since it is performed in shallow waters inside fringing reefs and thus most women use this technique for seaweed farming.

Source : http://allafrica.com