Seaweeds Mission launched for commercial farming of seaweeds
Part of: GS Prelims and GS – III – Agriculture; Economy
In news
Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) has launched a Seaweed Mission.
Objective: Commercial farming of seaweeds and its processing for value addition towards boosting national economy.
The Mission shall undertake following activities:
Establishing model demonstration farms over one hectare for cultivation of economically important seaweeds in nearshore and onshore along the Indian coasts.
Establishment of seaweed nurseries for supplying seed material for large scale farming
Onshore cultivation for (i) Seedling supply facility (ii) Seaweed cultivation for processing
Setting up of processing plant for production of plant growth stimulants (sap) and industrially important cell wall polysaccharides such as agar, agarose, carrageenan and alginates from fresh seaweeds
Advantages of the Mission:
By an estimate, if cultivation is done in 5% of the EEZ area of India, it can: (1) provide employment to ~ 50 million people; (2) set up new seaweed industry; (3) contribute to national GDP; (4) increase ocean productivity; (5) reduce algal blooms, (6) increase Carbon sequestration; (7) provide bio-ethanol of 6.6 billion litres.
Do you know?
Out of the global seaweed production of around 32 million tons, fresh weight is valued around 12 billion USD.
China produces ~57 %, Indonesia ~28%, whereas India is having a mere share of ~0.01-0.02%.
