: Opinion: The weed that isn’t! #IndiaNEWS #News By M Krishnan and Ramasubramanian V Imagine using a shopping bag that could disintegrate in hot water or dissolve in minutes in normal water. This

Opinion: The weed that isn’t! #IndiaNEWS #News
By M Krishnan and Ramasubramanian V
Imagine using a shopping bag that could disintegrate in hot water or dissolve in minutes in normal water. This and many more innovative seaweed products are already in the market and set to make strong waves. Seaweed is a macroalgae that thrives in marine waters. With some innovative ocean farming networking strategies, the fast growing weed would easily scale well. Seaweed absorbs CO2 much faster than any land-based plant or tree. Some seaweed can grow as fast as two metres a day absorbing CO2 fast and reducing ocean acidity.
Global Output
What has been done in this sector thus far? The seaweed global output is expected to reach billion by 2025. Under the Pradhan Mantri Matsay Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), the Centre has put Rs 640 crore into the seaweed business with the hope that production could be enhanced to 10 crore tonnes by 2025. AquAgri Private Limited, New Delhi, is the pioneer in Kappaphycus alvarezii seaweed culture along the Palk Bay, Mandapam, Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. It started its operations after buying off this business from PepsiCo, which entered the seaweed culture business in the early 2000s with a hired labour model that failed. AqaAgri started operations in 2008 in a network model comprising self-help groups of fishers of Mandapam villages, the Department of Fisheries, Tamil Nadu (DoFTN), local nationalised banks and not-for-profit organisation Aquaculture Foundation of India (AFI), Chennai. The seedlings and equipment were given to the seaweed farmers in the first round and the output was bought off the SHGs by the company directly after crediting their accounts with their payouts.
The banks had no second thoughts in financing the SHGs for inputs and equipment in the subsequent rounds as payments for the EMI were deducted from the accounts of the seaweed farmers. The DoFTN and AFI played a magnificent role in providing extension service, technology updates and training. This network worked too well and fed the input needs of the carrageenan manufacturing factory of AquAgri in Manamadurai, Tamil Nadu. Fishers and their families belonging to more than 18 fish landing villages in Mandapam area directly benefitted from this initiative. This seaweed movement that started as a women SHG activity flourished and attracted their men folk, who then took over the offshore raft seeding and management and the women took care of in-shore seaweed drying activities.
A seaweed culture raft worth Rs 2,000 can be planted with 70 kg of seaweed saplings which would yield 230 kg of seaweed after 45 days. Each kilo of seaweed is worth Rs 60-75 per Kg. Therefore, if a family has 40-45 rafts in operation, the daily take is estimated to be as much as Rs 800 per day.

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