IN PICS | Seaweed farming brings hope to Kenyan villagers hit by climate change

20 November 2024 - 09:31 By Sonia Rao
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Seaweed farmers carry their harvest used to make cosmetic products from the Indian Ocean to the open beach in Kibuyuni village, Kwale county, Kenya, on October 21 2024.
Seaweed farmers carry their harvest used to make cosmetic products from the Indian Ocean to the open beach in Kibuyuni village, Kwale county, Kenya, on October 21 2024.
Image: REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi

The people of Kenya's coastal village of Mwazaro used to earn their living mainly growing cassava and maize, until the ravages of drought forced them to try a new crop: seaweed.

They plant it on the beachfront and lay it out to dry inland, joining scores of other communities feeding a growing demand at home and abroad for associated products including soap, shampoo and seaweed powder, used in food.

Seaweed farming was first introduced in Kenya in 2008 and has expanded rapidly to cover 20 villages, David Mirera, a scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), said.

Higher temperatures, rising sea levels and poor rain have all played their part in the shift.

Along the coast in the village of Kibuyuni, investments in seaweed farming have led to improvements in infrastructure and electricity, said Kassim Ramtu Bakari, who does marketing for the Seaweed Farmers' Co-operative there, which employs more than 100 households.

Tima Jasho, a mother of seven in Kibuyuni, said she was now able to pay her children's school fees and move her family from a mud home to a brick house.

“If you grow seaweed, you don't have to depend on a man,” she told Reuters. “I can earn my own money.”

In 2022, the industry produced almost 100 tonnes of seaweed worth more than $30,000 (R541,218), according to KMFRI data. Farmers export dry seaweed to China, France, the US and other countries.

The global market for seaweed has tripled in size in the past two decades, according to a 2024 UN report, growing from $5bn (R90.16bn) in 2000 to $17bn (R306.52bn) in 2021.

It is Tanzania's third-largest export and employs more than 26,000 farmers, said George Maina, a scientist at The Nature Conservancy, an environmental NPO which supports seaweed farmers in Kenya and Tanzania.

Kenya has a long way to go before it becomes a global industry leader like its neighbour, Maina said.

“It's still lagging in production,” he said. “But it's a sector that is growing.”

Reuters


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