₹637 crore for a new beginning for seaweed farming

Any story about seaweed farming in India begins and ends in Mandapam, Tamil Nadu.

The narrative is invariably the same: the immense potential offered by long coastline and biodiversity and how 900 fisherfolk families in southern coastal Tamil Nadu have been earning at least ₹8,000 a month from this vocation. The needle has been stuck at this point for three decades—due to inadequate attention, according to experts.

And now, the government has allocated ₹637 crore for the cultivation of these nutrition-rich marine plants, as part of the ₹20,050-crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana—to be spent over the next five years, mainly as subsidy support.

Dr Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary at the Ministry of Fisheries, is confident of a jump-start. The new Ministry (formed in February 2019) is very serious about it because the potential is huge, with the world production valued around $12 billion, “our share is measly, not even worth mentioning.” According to some estimates, the world produces about 33 million tons of seaweed, half of it coming from China and most of the rest from Indonesia and Philippines; India produces about 20,000 tons. In contrast, the country’s potential has been estimated at a million tons, a fourth of which in Tamil Nadu alone. Raised to that level, this vocation can give employment to 6-7 lakh people, says Secretary Ranjan.

HBL