- Globally, seaweed is increasingly becoming the go-to organic medicine option, and Zanzibar is betting big on this avenue.
- Already, the East African Island’s government is investing in the commercial growth of seaweed.
- What’s more, Zanzibar and the EU are in talks to develop the Island’s aquaculture sector.
Zanzibar seaweed output is increasingly becoming a viable commercial project as the island is tapping as part of diversifying its economy. Increasingly, Zanzibar is putting emphasis on seaweed farming because the global industry of seaweed is growing very fast, especially due to the discovery of critical medicinal properties.
It is reported that diseases such as cancer, diabetes, inflammation, and chronic cardiovascular are major global health problems that can all be remedied by seaweed.
In a research paper titled “Global seaweed farming and processing in the past 20 years,” it is reported that “currently, the chemotherapy and synthetic drugs are widely used in the medical field. However, some drugs are often associated with side effects such as toxicity, drug tolerance, and metabolic disorders…but that is not the case with seaweed.”
“Therefore, the natural bioactive ingredients have become interesting substitutes to prevent diseases and seaweed is one of the most abundant and promising sources of biologically active metabolites,” reads the report.
Owing to this global sector updates, Zanzibar President, Dr. Hussein Mwinyi said his government is now investing in seaweed value addition and growing its domestic production capacity in an effort to produce high-quality seaweed for both local and international markets.
Zanzibar seaweed industry
The president made the comment on development of the Zanzibar seaweed industry during a meeting with the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Tanzania, Christine Grau at State House, Zanzibar earlier this week.
“The government is doing everything in its power to promote seaweed production and ensure that both farmers and the government benefit from the business. Value addition stands as a crucial pillar in transforming the seaweed sector, which employs almost 99 per cent of women in Zanzibar,” local media quotes Dr. Mwinyi.
In his dialogue, the president asked the EU to support the island through training and the provision of modern equipment as well as its value chain development to grow the Zanzibar seaweed industry. “With significant investment, particularly in seaweed value addition, Zanzibar will be better positioned to earn more foreign exchange,” urged the president.
According to Dr. Mwinyi, seaweed growth and trade is among Zanzibar’s blue economy’s priority agenda for development and called on investors to enter the sector. The president said the Zanzibar seaweed farming sector is flourishing, and according to him, industry analysis suggest that the island produces 23,000 tonnes of seaweed annually.
Seconding the view, the EU Ambassador Grau commended the government of Zanzibar and pledged to grow areas of cooperation between the two sides. The diplomat said through the ongoing “Green City” project between Zanzibar and the EU, the latter is supporting gender issues, especially empowerment of women participation in economic activities including fishing and financial management.
The development of edible green algae is increasing and with it, the seaweed market is growing; “More nutrients in seaweed are discovered now, and the potential demand for algal compounds and other chemicals generated by biotechnology is growing,” the diplomat explained.
He said in the future, “it is expected that research and utilization of edible green algae will attract increasing attention and grow the sector tremendously.”
Seaweed contains a wide range of bioactive compounds as well as nutritional benefits. Furthermore, algae can produce far more biomass than terrestrial plants and may be cultured successfully in fresh or seawater without the use of antibiotics or pesticides, which lead to an increase in consumer demand and economic interest over the last two decades.
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Zanzibar seaweed and global industry growth
Over the past two decades, the seaweed industry, farming and production process, has grown significantly. The sector now plays an important role in the fishing industry and African countries are taking interest.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2022 data, the global seaweed output (both aquaculture and wild) has increased nearly three-fold from 118,000 tons to 358,200 tons from 2000 to 2019 and is growing at an unprecedented rate.
“In 2019, 97 per cent of the global aquaculture output came from artificial farming. The world’s seaweed production mostly comes from the five major continents with Asia accounting for 97.38 percent,” the report says.
At the moment, China ranks first in the world’s aquaculture production including seaweed production, accounting for 56.82 per cent of global aquaculture output. “The second is Indonesia, another major seaweed farming country, which accounts for 28.6 per cent of the global seaweed breeding… Eucheuma seaweeds (Eucheuma spp) and Gracilaria seaweeds (Gracilaria spp) are the main species,” reads the report.
Similarly, South Korea also has a developed seaweed culture industry and many seaweed species. South Korea accounts for 5.09 per cent of the world’s seaweed output and in particular the brown, red, and green seaweeds.
The report also cites that the seaweed aquaculture in the Philippines accounts for 4.19 per cent of the global market, “Mainly planting Elkhorn Sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii), that accounts for more than 90 per cent of the country’s output,” the report details.
Further, the report cites that North Korea accounts for 1.6 per cent of the global aquaculture and mainly grows Japanese kelp (Laminaria japonica). Japan itself accounts for 1.15 per cent of the global seaweed production, mainly planting laver (nori, Porphyra tenera), wakame (Undaria pinnatifida), and Japanese kelp (Laminaria japonica).
Next in line is Malaysia which accounts for 0.53 per cent of the global aquaculture, and grows mainly the Elkhorn Sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii). North America accounts for 1.36 per cent of the world’s seaweed, and 95 per cent of the seaweed in North America is obtained from natural resources.
When it comes to manmade seaweed cultivation, Chile is the globe’s main producer, accounting for 0.3 per cent of the global production. The country mainly grows Gracilaria seaweeds and Spirulina maxima, but it still should be noted that 99 per cent of the produce comes from natural riverbeds.
“Africa accounts for 0.41 per cent of the world’s seaweed. By 2019, the percentage of 81 per cent of seaweed came from seaweed farming and Zanzibar accounts for 0.5 per cent of the global aquaculture, growing mainly spiny Eucheuma (Eucheuma denticulatum),” reads the report.
According to the report, in general, the following five kinds of seaweeds accounted for more than 95 per cent of world’s seaweed culture production. Laminaria and Saccharina account for 34.65 per cent of the global cultivation for human consumption, mainly as salads, condiments, and sauces.
