While farmers’ protest is distressing the nation, there is a “blue revolution” happening in India which could change the face of food production in our country.
The word “seaweed” could make you screw up your nose but do read on for it could be the most hearty news you might have heard in this distressing year of the pandemic.
Seaweed (see image) has long been used as medicine in India for thousands of years. But the world is using it as a food source to the extent that it’s the fastest growing product today. India is seen as a huge source to supply and the nation is waking up to the exciting possibility. As per the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the global seaweed market is already worth $6 billion, showing a whopping 8% increase every year.
So why seawood is so hot in the world? One, it fights malnutrition like few else as it’s a perfect source of iodine, vitamins and proteins (that’s health for you). Further, seaweed gains its energy through photosynthesis, like plants do. It absorbs carbon dioxide, converts the carbon to sugars for energy and releases oxygen into the water. It of course provide food and habitat to a number of marine animals.
Now here comes India into the picture. Researchers have long advocated for it. Much of India’s coast is ideal for seaweed cultivation with perfect tropical weather, shallow waters and a rich supply of nutrients.
India took tentative steps around 1987. We got hold of a species native to Philippines (Kappaphycus alvarezi). A wing of India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research did its study. The intention was to help increase manufacturing of agar—a jelly with many uses, including in food, cosmetics and in growing micro-organisms.
A decade of lab and field trials later, the seaweed was introduced at Mandapam, Tamil Nadu with just 5 gm of seed material—yes, you heard it right, just 5 grams. This little material over the years has created a seaweed field along a 100m coastline near Palk Bay.
Large scale seaweed harvesting began in earnest around the year 2000. PepsiCo was licensed the technology. They needed seaweed as a food crop, to produce carrageenan, a compound used in food, cosmetics and industry. PepsiCo sold its seaweed fields in 2008, eventually brought by AquAgri, one of the first Indian firms to venture into commercial cultivation of seaweed. The firm now has 18 seaweed cultivation sites in Tamil Nadu.
Other than Tamil Nadu, the region of Gujarat has the highest seaweed biodivesity in India. Some 282 species are beiing reported along Tamil Nadu’s 1,001km (621 miles) coastline alone. India, in all, is home to some 841 species of seaweed though only a few are cultivated.
India’s present seaweed value is around $500m. El Nano, global warming have hurt as it increases the temperature of oceans but India is on course. The revolution is closer. India is overing $87 million in subsidies for seaweed farming initiatives over the next five years.
It also has an unexpected windfall. India is an agrarian economy as well know. Some 60% of land is used for agriculture though 47% of arable land is lost due to soil degradation. Water erosion is the root cause. But through seaweed, water could also be part of the solution.
Further, science is waking up that decomposed algae doesn’t necessarily release the carbon stored in seaweed. When it dies, much of it is swept out to the ocean, sinking to ocean floor in due course and locking up carbon in sediments. So, this could help mitigate climate change. Not to say the families which could do more than survive on seaweed cultivattion and its sale. Some 1200 families alongside the coasts of Tamil Nadu for instance, take their bamboo rafts, cultivate and harvest seaweed daily. Each raft yields 200kg of seaweed. One fourth of this, some 50kg, is used to start cultivating the next raft.
Sure, bad also comes with the good. Unchecked wild growth could damage coral reefs. For example in India’s Gulf of Mannar, concerns have been raised that around the island of Kurusadai, seaweed invasion is hurting coral reefs. There is also dearth of quality seed material. Sea temperatures, as said, is also an issue. But these are not insurmountable challenges.
It’s a delicious irony that the food we Indians have historically neglected is actually the one on which the world is breaking its banks. It could also help our agricultural lands.
It deserves our time and care. More so of our media who can’t think beyond politics.
