The seaweed industry in Tanzania employs about 30,000 farmers (80% of whom are women) and has improved the livelihoods of the coastal people. Production is c. 12,000 MT per year of the red eucheumatoid seaweeds Eucheuma denticulatum (10,000 MT), Kappaphycus striatus and K. alvarezii (2,000 MT) in the order of decreasing production. Varieties of these species were imported from the Philippines for commercial cultivation. The industry is, however, challenged by changes in the environment (linked to climate change). These changes have badly affected the seaweed production and farmers livelihoods throughout Tanzania. In the past 10-15 years, the seaweed industry has been badly hit by ice-ice disease and epiphyte (especially Neosiphonia) outbreaks. Seaweed production has decreased by 20% from 16,000 MT in 2012 to the current (2018) 12,000 MT.
The GlobalSeaweedSTAR Project, funded by UK Research and Innovation, is working in collaboration with the University of Dar es Salaam, to address these challenges in four categories: 1. Diseases and epiphyte identification; 2. Biosecurity to minimise the spread of disease and epiphytes; 3. Breeding to enhance resistance to disease, including studying the genetic diversity of imported and native eucheumatoids and exploring the possibility of propagating native varieties for commercial production; and 4. Socioeconomic resilience - studying how resilient the farmers are to the challenges facing the industry. The project aims to produce best practice guidelines and to disseminate these to farmers, government, and other stakeholders to enable the sustainable development of this industry in Tanzania. Some results of the project will be presented.