November 3, 2025
Corporations make investments to make sure higher outcomes for girls seaweed farmers.
Ladies stroll alongside Zanzibar’s seashores in colourful attire, drawing consideration from vacationers’ cameras as they go about their every day activity of gathering seaweed, an important ingredient utilized in varied merchandise like meals, cosmetics, and bioplastics. Seaweed farming has been an important trade in Zanzibar, positioned off a portion of Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast, for many years. Most of Zanzibar’s 25,000 seaweed farmers are ladies.
Rising international demand has made it the second-largest contributor to the native financial system after tourism and spices. The trade has additionally attracted larger curiosity from donors and traders, a few of whom intention to put money into measures to handle the more and more harsh working circumstances that may threaten the protection of girls seaweed farmers who usually spend lengthy days beneath the solar, which might result in backaches and pores and skin irritation, and bites from sea creatures.
“I expertise ache in my again, waist, and chest because of the labor within the sea. There are additionally dangers of being stung or bitten,” Mwanaisha Makame Simai advised The Related Press. “Generally robust waves sweep you away. I’ve personally witnessed three circumstances of individuals drowning.”
Mhando Waziri, challenge supervisor for blue financial system initiatives on the nonprofit Milele Zanzibar Basis, famous that local weather change forces ladies deeper into the ocean, placing them prone to drowning. Milele’s packages embrace educating ladies seaweed farmers to swim to fight the chance of drowning.
Most farmers, independently or in collectives, promote their merchandise to native middlemen who promote to bigger firms. Milele has developed packages to assist ladies flip seaweed into merchandise, primarily cosmetics. Waziri estimated that seaweed farmers might earn 10 instances as a lot by promoting the uncooked, unprocessed product to different producers.
“Ten years in the past, individuals thought you had been loopy for working in seaweed,” Klara Schade, director at Mwani Zanzibar, a boutique seaweed farm within the close by village of Paje, advised the Related Press. “Now it’s grow to be a buzzword.” Schade has centered on coaching seaweed farmers in cosmetics manufacturing. Staff at Mwani spend extra time within the workshop than out within the ocean. Schade famous that Mwani’s “face and physique pores and skin superfood” sells on-line for $140, which means its workers earn way over the typical seaweed farmer.
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