Seaweed : The Master of all Trades

-ANNA ABRAHAM (MANAGING EDITOR)

It is an immutable fact that climate change is a reality. Researchers believe that around 1,50,000 deaths each year occur due to global warming and that the number is set to double by 2030. In the backdrop of the centre  exempting offshore and onshore oil and gas explorations from obtaining environmental clearances, the state of climate friendly laws in India severely suffer. The National Democratic Alliance government in India has strengthened business on the seemingly broken back of the environmental laws in the country. Laws safeguarding the environment against 70% of the polluting industries have been weakened. This is not to say that the NDA government is the only perpetrator of crimes against the environment. Indian governance has a notorious history of being cavalier when it comes to crimes against the environment. In 2013, the UPA government assigned the two portfolios of the Union Oil and Petroleum Ministry and the Union Minister of State of Environment and Forests to Veerappa Moily. To say it was a conflict of interest, would be a severe understatement. Fortunately, it was only six months till this debacle was reversed by the NDA reigning victorious in 2014. The NDA government is set to be in power for the next four years, making it a long time before the environment clearance exemptions are undone, especially since they hold an overwhelming majority in parliament. 

As a consequence of climate change, India is suffering from a multitude of problems. The fresh water crisis is one that millions already face. India has only 4% of the world’s fresh water and has 17.7% of the world’s population. Rural India is the one that is the worst hit. The Coca Cola case in Plachimada of heinous amounts of extraction of groundwater is a classic example of how big corporations have next to no regard for their environmental impact on the land and its people. The population of a billion that India is, is suffering from a nutritional security disaster. It ranked 102^nd amongst 117 economies in the Global Hunger Index of 2019. Two out of three child deaths in India is attributed to malnourishment. Unemployment is yet another major crisis India is afflicted with, with unemployment rates at a 45 year high. Data by the think tank, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, shows that it increased to 7.78% in December 2019.

The word ‘weed’ is plagued by a negative connotation that makes most think of it as a nuisance. What many don’t know is that seaweeds already have great commercial utility. They are the principal binding ingredient in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, processed foods and other consumer goods. In addition to this, they are one of the most assured means to a safe and sustainable future. 

Regenerative ocean farming is based on the revival of the oceans and it  has everything to do with seaweeds and shellfish growing together. Both merely require sunlight, nutrients and the plankton already present in the water. They don’t require deforestation, fertilisers or freshwater. There are different types of seaweed. They can grow to enormous heights, with kelp growing up to 175 feet. They seem like miracle plants, as the benefits are unending. In addition to the aforementioned, they clean waters and attract aquatic life, providing a habitat to smaller fish, allowing bigger fish to feed on the smaller ones inhabited here. They provide a home to aqua-life, in turn making seaweed farming a sustainable means to successful fishing. Nitrogen fertilisers used on farms enter water streams and seaweeds thrive on them, soaking them up. A growing practice in the United States is to use seaweed cultivated to not only clean waters but also use the seaweed soaked up with nitrogen; to sell back to the farmers as fertilisers, thus coming full circle. The oceans are responsible for producing 70% of the world’s oxygen. In comparison, only 27% of the world’s oxygen comes from trees, making the oceans that much important to save. Of the oxygen from the oceans, most is produced by phytoplankton, a tiny ocean plant living near the surface of the water. When an excess of nutrients are present, this phytoplankton can cause a harmful algal bloom that adversely affects water quality and aquatic life. Seaweeds thrive on nutrients and help keep nutrient presence in check, potentially preventing such algal bloom. If seaweed farmers dedicated about 5 percent of the US waters to seaweed farming, it could clean up 135 million tons of carbon and 10 million tons of nitrogen, according to a report by the World Bank. As the discourse of the next World War being over water is at large, the concept of seaweed farming comes as a saving grace. 

Similarly, nutritional security can be assured via seaweed farming. For one, seaweed itself is highly nutritious. Seaweed can help thyroid functioning due to its richness in iodine and tyrosine. It contains vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, polysaccharides and essential fibres. It can help reduce the risk of heart problems due to its anti-clotting properties and its ability to help reduce blood cholesterol levels. It has been a staple food in Japan and China since times immemorial. Seaweeds also inhabit marine life that would help in fishing. The Indian coast runs 7500 km long. Imagine what that length could do with large chunks already rich in consumable seaweed. 

As for India, seaweed farming could come as a step towards solving the unemployment crisis. The seaweed farming industry has the potential to be a $26 billion dollar market by 2025, as reports suggest. The affair between India and seaweed farming began in 2006, when PepsiCo started seaweed farming near the coast of Tamil Nadu. Abhiram Seth, who was then the Director in-charge of exports in agriculture, left PepsiCo and bought the project from them taking it to AquAgri. Now he works with hundreds of fisherfolk at the coast of Tamil Nadu involved in seaweed farming. They produce 600-800 tonnes of seaweed annually and produce carrageenan, a principal binding ingredient in lots of processed foods, a gelling agent and food thickening agent; and biostimulants that prove to be excellent fertilizers.  Big corporations like Mars, are very interested in carrageenan, because of its importance in their food production processes. If the rest of coastal India follows suit, the results will be nothing short of impressive. Presently, there are many unexplored spots of seaweed beds and other spots where seaweed can be successfully harvested. It grows along the coasts of Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Orissa, etc. At least 60 of the species growing are commercially viable. The most famous technique of harvesting seaweed in India is the single rope harvesting technique, wherein tethered rafts are used to cultivate the plant. Seaweed cultivators are said to have sizeable returns in terms of money, for the minimal input costs they must bear. Reports suggest that Rs. 86, 000 can be earned per raft, and if a family makes 40 rafts a year, it leaves them with an annual income of Rs. 34 lakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already helped develop seaweed farming in the coasts of Gujarat. If the model is replicated in other states, growth is undeniable. Shifting the dependence of rural India from agriculture to aquaculture, could be the impetus the Indian economy needs for its revival and unemployment crisis. 

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