India’s coastline is 7516 kilometres long and therefore offers tremendous potential for industries dependent on it. Under the five-year Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojna, launched in 2020, Rs 640 crore has been allocated to the cultivation of seaweed. Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojna provides exhaustive details about seaweed cultivation. The initiative encourages fishers from coastal regions to participate and one of its aims is to provide women in coastal regions an opportunity to earn a livelihood. The government is also providing subsidies for making rafts, etc. for the production and cultivation of seaweed. Some of the seaweed occur naturally and others are being cultivated. Some are also being grown from tissues in laboratories.
Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI) located in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, has been working for the last several years to promote the cultivation of seaweed in India.
“There are a variety of seaweeds in India and the institute is also carrying out research on many of them,” Ankur Goel, chief scientist, Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute told Gaon Connection. He explained how with India’s long coastline, and its significant fishing communities, seaweed production is fast becoming a dependable means of income for the people.
In India, there are 900 species of green seaweed, 4,000 of red seaweed and 1,500 species of brown seaweed that occur naturally. Of these, 221 species are used in manufacturing various products including 145 food products and another 110 species are used for producing phycocolloids, an extract from the seaweeds also used in manufacturing food products.
“There are certain seaweeds that go into making bio-stimulants, which increase the crop yields by 16 to 40 per cent. Products made from seaweed can help in organic farming, too,” informed Goel.
“Seaweed cultivation is being undertaken in Gujarat as well as Tamil Nadu where fishers earn ten to fourteen thousand rupees a month from it. Many women benefit from this as they earn an income from this while the men are at sea,” he explained.
There are studies and research being undertaken to develop newer methods of producing seaweeds. One of the innovations is referred to as the Single Rope Floating Raft method developed by Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute. In this, rafts are constructed with bamboos, rope and seaweed, and set afloat in the open sea. In about 45 days, seaweed grows on these rafts, sometimes yielding 30 to 45 kg of seaweed. The seaweed is then harvested and the raft is set afloat again for the next harvest.
“It requires no use of pesticide and grows naturally in sea water,” explained Goel. The government too has come up with numerous schemes in which seaweed is being produced from tissue culture, in order to enhance the quality of plants that can be cultivated, he said.
A viable source of income
“Whoever is producing seaweed currently is generating a good income that can sometimes go up to thirty thousand rupees every month. One can earn for at least eight to nine months a year (seaweed cultivation stops only during the rainy season). Also, one only needs an initial investment of less than a lakh rupees to begin this work,” Abhiram Seth, managing director of AquAgri, a company that is involved in seaweed farming, told Gaon Connection.
AquAgri is the first Indian company to have entered into commercial production of seaweed. At present, about 400 fishers are associated with this company in Tamil Nadu.
There is a huge demand for seaweed in the market, and there are numerous varieties that are used in many industries including processed foods, cosmetics, paper and paints. There is a rising demand for seaweed and there are nearly 46 industries in the country involved in producing seaweed, it is still not enough to meet the demand. According to the department of fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, India’s target is to produce 112,0000 tonnes of seaweed by 2025.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, around 30.1 million tonnes of seaweed was produced worldwide in 2016. Out of this, 95 per cent was cultivated and 5 per cent was naturally occurring. The major seaweed producing countries are China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
