The government of Tanzania is currently looking to promote sea weed farming in the country. The Minister for Trade and Industries, Ambassador Amina Salum Ali acknowledged this, asserting that value addition has special importance in promoting seaweed farming in the country. She further added that the construction of two seaweed processing factories was underway.
While updating the country legislators about efforts by the government to improve the production and sale of seaweed, the minister said different measures were being taken by her office to ensure that the nation and farmers benefited from the crop.
According to the Amb. Ali, the value addition will bring changes to the lives of about 29,000 seaweed farmers. She also noted that majority will be women. She further added that as a government, Tanzania is committed to achieve the goal. She added that the efforts would also increase production.
The current average annual production is 16,000 tonnes. Moreover, the ambassador asserted that initiatives to promote seaweed were being supervised by a special national committee formed by different key stakeholders. These, she said, include exporters, farmers, development partners such as Milele Zanzibar Foundation and Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH).
