Faced with the triple challenges of achieving food security, finding sustainable income sources to support livelihoods amid desertification, and dealing with the consequences of climate change—including biodiversity loss and environmental degradation—the people of Kenya’s coastal village of Mwazaro in Shimoni, Kwale County, seem to have found an effective and rewarding solution to their problems: seaweed farming.
Before drought ravaged their area, they primarily earned a living growing cassava and maize on their farms, which today hardly support production due to weather risks, such as inadequate rainfall and shorter planting seasons. Thankfully, seaweed, which they plant on the beachfront and lay out to dry inland, has offered an opportunity to diversify farming operations and start a new business.
The farmers cultivate seaweed using a method known as vertical (or 3D) farming or the off-bottom method, where lines are handled by one person. This technique allows them to harvest large yields from a small area year-round, as seaweed cultivation is unaffected by arid climates.
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Seaweed farming is highly profitable, they say. Seaweed, a term used for various species of marine plants and macroalgae, is harvested after eight weeks of growth. The farmers dry it and export it to countries such as China, France, and the United States, where it is used in products like sushi, salsas, sauces, salads, seasonings, cosmetics, animal feed, and fertilizer.
“Based on the current selling price of $0.50 per kilogram of dried seaweed, if you are engaged in a 320-line farm, you can expect to earn about $60.00 per week. If you have a bigger farm, let’s say a 480-line farm, you can earn up to $90.00 per week,” the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations states in their guide to running a successful seaweed farm.
Seaweed farming is not new in Kenya. According to Mr David Mirera, a scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), which partners with farmers to provide scientific data about best practices for seaweed farming, it was introduced in 2008 and has gained momentum in recent years, with dozens of farms not only in Mwazaro but also in nearby villages such as Jimbo, Kibuyuni, Nyumba Sita, and Funzi.
One farmer, Tima Jasho, a mother of seven from Kibuyuni, said that through seaweed farming, she was now able to pay her children’s school fees and move her family from a mud house to a brick one.
“If you grow seaweed, you don’t have to depend on a man,” she told Reuters. “I can earn my own money.”
Beyond its profitability, seaweed farming offers significant environmental benefits. It provides food and shelter for marine life, including fish and sea urchins, and helps reduce ocean acidification by absorbing carbon dioxide and excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from seawater.
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