ZANZAIBAR'S SEAWEED FARMERS

Photography: Main image Rosa van Ederen. All other images Roshni Lodhia / The Nature Conservancy

Seaweed has become the green gold of the Zanzibar economy and it is becoming clear the CO2-absorbing algae is just as vital to the future of the planet. An innovative new partnership is aiming for a win-win – boosting incomes for the tens of thousands of seaweed farmers on the archipelago while restoring important coastal ecosystems. Here we find out more about the scheme being piloted on Unguja and Pemba as well as revealing what makes seaweed so super. Mark Edwards reports.

We should all be saying ‘thank you’ to seaweed. OK, if you swim face first into some of the slimy flotsam, you may feel like saying something far less appreciative, but seaweed is among the marine photo-synthesisers that produce 70 per cent of the air we breathe. You may want to add to your gratitude list that this underwater rainforest sucks up large amounts of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and phosphorous – the main culprits in spiking ocean temperature and acidity levels that in turn bleach coral reefs and deplete marine biodiversity.

The Zanzibar archipelago has one of the world’s richest coastal and marine environments, but it is being hit hard by climate change. This is despite seaweed farming being well established here. It was introduced in 1988, and Zanzibar has gone on to become one of the world’s largest exporters of sea algae and around 25,000 of the archipelago’s inhabitants – the vast majority of them rural women – wade out into the Indian Ocean at low tide to cultivate and harvest their crop each day.

The farmers are trying to keep up with a massive global demand. All manner of products from toothpaste to ice-cream benefit from the thickening qualities of carrageenan, a gel extracted from red seaweed, while sea algae is a valuable anti-ageing ingredient in cosmetics and the rest of the world is catching on to what the Japanese have known for centuries – seaweed is a delicious vitamin and anti-oxidant-packed food.

The market is so lucrative, seaweed has become Zanzibar’s third-largest source of income after tourism and clove production and accounts for nearly 90 percent of its marine exports.

However, the established seaweed farming practices on the archipelago have not proved a stronghold against the effects of climate change and, in some instances – such as farmers cutting back mangrove forests on the archipelago to provide the stakes that secure the farms to the sea bed or clearing natural seagrasses to make room for the rows of seaweed – can be even seen to be exacerbating the problem.

Pilot project

The resultant rising water temperatures are taking their toll on yields. During its best years, seaweed farming generated US$8 million for Zanzibar, but those levels have been falling for some time and last year revenues were recorded at just over US$5 million.

It’s a situation that has been on the radar of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for some time. The organisation has a global reputation for creating innovative, on-the-ground solutions to tackle climate change and recent work in Tanzania has included promoting sustainable fishing practices in Lake Tanganyika. Its research in Zanzibar has left it convinced that seaweed farming, when done right, has the potential to sustainably nourish and filter the ocean while empowering women and providing an environmentally friendly livelihood for the islands’ coastal communities. So it is piloting a project in three specially selected spots in Zanzibar to create a model of sustainable seaweed aquaculture, which can then be rolled out across the archipelago. Tiffany Waters, aquaculture strategy specialist for TNC, says: “Our scoping surveys in 2019 received the best feedback from Tumbe and Shumba, in Pemba, and Mwungoni, in Unguja, in terms of production potential and higher impact for the local communities livelihoods due to the high engagement in seaweed farming.”

Sustainable skills

The sustainable farming skills and tools will be passed at these pilot villages by project partner C-Weed Corporation, which knows the communities well through its role as Tanzanian supplier of red seaweed to global food products giant Cargill, which supports about 2,500 farmers in Zanzibar and is also onboard the project.

Sebastien Jan, seaweed strategic sourcing and sustainability project manager at Cargill, says: “We will focus on empowering seaweed producers, improving production and harvesting practices, community support and strengthening partnerships. Cargill want to make sure seaweed farmers get the appropriate knowledge and tools to run that activity sustainably.

“Skills taught range from choosing an ideal farming site location, the use of an improved way of tying seaweed to the cultivation rope called the ‘double-made loop’ [seaweed is an algae, not a plant so has no roots and has to be secured in place], boats to load with fresh crop as well as farm management to guarantee the highest productivity while protecting the environment.”

The alliance makes sound business sense to Cargill, which will be guaranteed a higher quality and traceable product, and complements the company’s ownproject Red Seaweed Promise,which was launched last year as acommitment to source 60 per centsustainable red seaweed by 2025.

The prospect of better incomesand living standards has also meantthe TNC pilot project has been wellreceived by seaweed farmers andthe Zanzibar government, whichis hoping to benefit from higherexport income and the restorationof the archipelago’s tourist-magnetmarine-life rich coastline.

Such holistic support bodeswell for creating a sustainablemodel. TNC have a mentorshipplan in place so good practice willpercolate through communitiesand ensure farmers involved willhave a local specialist to consultthroughout the process.

Waters says: “We anticipate thatover 100 farmers – from about100 households affecting approximately500 people – will be trainedin the first year, mainly representingexisting seaweed farmers groupsin Unguja and Pemba. We also seethe potential for others to adoptthe better management practices after seeing improved productionfrom the farmers that we will beworking with.”

In the longer term, thecollaborators will work with localresearch and government partnersto develop improved seaweedstrains that thrive in a changingclimate, and potential seaweedpolicy improvements, that couldbenefit both seaweed and theenvironment.

Commercial demand

TNC sees the growing commercialdemand for seaweed driving thecontinued expansion of sustainableseaweed farming, which in turn willhave a major restorative effect onZanzibar above and below sea level.

Waters says: “With the globaldemand for seaweed set toincrease for its use in foods,cosmetics, and supplements, wesee potential for this program tohelp sustainably nourish the ocean,while increasing the quality andquantity of seaweed and thusimproving peoples’ livelihoods.”

Soon, we will all have even morereason to be thankful for seaweed.

MWANI ZANZIBAR

Mwani Zanzibar is a shining example of the positive effect seaweed can have on islanders’ lives. The sustainable private company employs around 20 women in Paje on the south-east coast of Unguja, who not only harvest seaweed, but also transform it into desirable organic beauty products.

The result is a range of handmade, nutrient-rich products from moisturising oils through body scrubs to soaps that is available to buy at the company’s centre in Paje, Make It Matter in Dar or from its website, mwanizanzibar.com

Mwani Zanzibar is on a mission to improve the incomes of seaweed farmers and by adding value to the harvest and with an international market it is able to offer higher salaries. It also offers full employment benefits such as social security, medical insurance as well as holiday and sick pay. For details, visit its Instagram and Facebook pages @mwanizanzibar