Tanzania’s seaweed production increased by more than 52 percent year over year in Q3 2023 as the sector took advantage of higher prices and lower costs for export permits, thanks to an initiative the country’s government instituted in June.
Statistics from the Bank of Tanzania show the nation's seaweed production during the period reached 3,972 metric tons (MT) – a slight improvement over the 3,932 MT produced in Q2 2023. The East African country’s total seaweed output between January and September of this year amounted to 10,592 MT.
Tanzania’s production is comprised almost entirely of the species E. spinosum, and the country is currently the African leader in seaweed production – ahead of Madagascar, Morocco, South Africa, and Kenya.
A June tax policy change implemented by Tanzania’s Ministry of Finance was a major factor in ensuring the country’s seaweed production has continued to improve, as the ministry announced a reduction in the fee required to attain export and import permits for seaweed. The fees were reduced from USD 500 (EUR 459) to USD 300 (EUR 275) for small-scale seaweed producers, and USD 600 (EUR 551) to USD 400 (EUR 367) for large-scale producers.
Tanzania’s spike in seaweed production could also be an indicator of global recovery within the sector, according to a recent World Bank report, which found the industry experienced “lower production overall” between 2015 and 2020.
The report attributes the decline in production to challenges such as climate change, which “is creating shorter growing seasons and warmer waters, leading to a decrease in commercial seaweed yields.”
Tanzania’s government is not the only entity in Africa working to increase seaweed production and exports. Other projects, led by governments and non-governmental organizations are working to increase production in countries including Kenya and Madagascar.
One example is the Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO) which has offered technical support for female seaweed farmers in Kenya’s coastal county of Kwale.
“The culture of this aquatic plant is gradually becoming a popular income-generating opportunity to supplement fishing, and seaweed culture is arising as a viable alternative livelihood in these communities,” a previous project update from the FAO stated.
The FAO has supported at least five seaweed projects in Kwale County, including one that entailed constructing sheds with raised racks to effectively dry the harvested crop, as well as linking farms to international buyers who are interested in purchasing dried seaweed.
The Kenyan government has also identified 15 potential investment sites for harvesting seaweed and establishing farms in the coastal counties of Mombasa, Kilifi, Lamu, Kwale, and Tana River under public private partnerships (PPPs), stating that the envisaged PPP investments would target “value addition, processing factories, and industrial products manufacturing factories for products like paper and biofuels, among others.”
The government says it requires at least USD 25 million (EUR 22.9 million) to properly pursue these investments, but as of yet there has been no update on the plan’s progress.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is investing USD 27.5 million (EUR 25.2 million) in Madagascar under a program to conserve the island nation’s biodiversity and expand “market-oriented, environmentally friendly, sustainable economic opportunities to improve community well-being and prosperity.”
The plan involves the funding of local aquaculture companies that promote “sustainable seaweed and sea cucumber production.”
In 2022, the USAID partnered with Madagascar-based aquaculture group Ocean Farmers, a producer of red seaweed products, to launch the five-year “Nosy Manga: Restorative Aquaculture for Nature and Communities” initiative, aiming to “support the development of sustainable commercial seaweed and sea cucumber farming in new seascapes in Madagascar, in partnership with Indian Ocean Trepang, conservation NGOs, and the local civil society.”
The project “will encourage farmers to adopt strategies that generate high financial returns and simultaneously contribute to the preservation and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems.”
These initiatives throughout Africa are part of a worldwide effort to increase seaweed production as a means of achieving sustainability initiatives,. A Planet Tracker study showed seaweed comprised 35.1 million MT of the 59 million MT of global aquaculture output in 2020. This trend is likely to continue, especially with rising consumer awareness that seaweed consumption is linked to positive health outcomes such as lower blood pressure and stroke prevent, among other benefits.
Photo courtesy of Ocean Farmers
