Seaweed farming: A path to empowering women
Seaweed and women's empowerment may not sound like an obvious fit, but that is the quiet change taking place along the coastline. India's seaweed industry is largely untapped, contributing only 0.003% in global trade value. However, the World Bank has identified 10 emerging seaweed markets/applications with a potential of $11.8 billion by 2030.
Seaweed lies at the intersection of India's green economy, coastal development, and bio-economy goals. India is home to over 844 seaweed species but only 60 are commercially cultivated. A paltry three species are currently farmed at scale in regions such as Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) aims to boost seaweed production to 1.12 million tonnes in five years. Women can play a big role in this expansion. From female seaweed diving squads harvesting the plants, to women driving innovation in labs, supply chains, and boardrooms, seaweed is emerging as an industry that's seeing women play a key role at every rung of the ladder.
The seaweed industry has emerged as an alternative employment for fisherfolk — nearly 60% of India's seaweed workforce comprise women. Women are not just the frontline gatherers and farmers, but are also producers of value. From innovative food businesses creating high-protein seaweed crackers, to award-winning biodegradable plastic, full-stack tech solutions, to a legacy company cultivating important species of seaweed — the industry is replete with examples of women with big entrepreneurial ambitions. Their efforts are not only creating new business models, but also reimagining how seaweed — that can also serve as an effective carbon sequestration tool — can drive innovative business models, coastal livelihood opportunities, and economic growth. A Council for Environment, Energy and Water (CEEW) study on the green economy points out how, thanks to a short cultivation period, seaweed farming can improve livelihood opportunities for fishing communities, especially women. For instance, it found that in Chilika Lake, Odisha, approximately 100 trained individuals, particularly women, cultivate Gracilaria, a type of seaweed indigenous to the area near Balugaon. The seaweed matures for harvesting within just 45 days of planting, enabling cultivators to earn up to ₹10,000 per month from a 10-acre underwater area.
Abhishek Jain, director, Green Economy and Impact Innovations, CEEW, says, 'Seaweed cultivation offers a climate-neutral, resource-efficient path to strengthen India's Green Economy. One of our study estimates Odisha alone could generate over one lakh sustainable jobs and ₹800 crore in market value for the industry by 2030.'
Women entrepreneurs in the sector are leading a wide range of innovations — from ethical harvesting to producing edible seaweed products, to manufacturing hydrocolloids for food and pharma industries, and even developing seaweed-based biodegradable packaging materials. Gabriella D'Cruz, marine conservationist and founder of Good Ocean says, 'Seaweed harvesting and farming is generally carried by women from coastal communities over men primarily due to its intertidal nature. Women generally prefer to farm or harvest seaweed closer to their homes while men go out to sea on boats.'
Devleena Bhattacharya, founder, ClimaCrew, says her company is building a full stack tech platform to scale up cultivation, processing, and a marketplace for seaweed in India, to connect seaweed suppliers and buyers using data, technology, and social science — kind of a digital backbone for the industry.
Be it Atmanirbhar Bharat, Nari Shakti, Viksit Bharat, or climate action, this industry is aligned with several national goals. All it needs is better visibility.
The views expressed are personal.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Gazette
2 hours ago
- India Gazette
India defies global poverty trends amid World Bank's revised estimates
New Delhi [India], June 7 (ANI): While the World Bank's revision to global poverty estimates led to a global increase in the count of extreme poverty by 125 million, India emerged as a statistical outlier in a positive direction, according to the government's factsheet analysis. The World Bank recently raised the International Poverty Line (IPL) from USD 2.15 to USD 3.00 per day (based on 2021 purchasing power parity). The revision was intended to reflect updated costs of living and more accurate consumption data. The global poverty measures produced by the World Bank use purchasing power parities (PPPs) to account for differences in price levels across the world. These PPPs are periodically revised in light of new data on relative living costs. This adjustment was expected to sharply increase the global count of those living in extreme poverty which was visible on poverty figures, estimated at 226 million people. However, India's newly revised poverty data significantly softened the blow, reducing the count by 125 million. These figures offsets more than half the global increase. India's standout performance is largely attributed to improvements in data collection and measurement methods. The country's latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) adopted the Modified Mixed Recall Period (MMRP) method, replacing the outdated Uniform Reference Period. This change provided a more accurate picture of household consumption, capturing actual spending more effectively. As a result, India's poverty rate in 2022-23 stood at just 5.25 per cent under the new USD 3.00 poverty line, and 2.35 per cent under the older USD 2.15 line -- a dramatic decline from earlier decades. The data also showed rising household spending: average monthly per capita expenditure rose to Rs 4,122 in rural areas and Rs 6,996 in urban areas, excluding the value of items received free through social welfare programs. Additionally, consumption inequality fell, with the Gini coefficient declining in both rural and urban regions. The government's factsheet detail added that India's example shows how methodological integrity, better data, and sustained policy efforts can work together to deliver real developmental outcomes. (ANI)
Hans India
4 hours ago
- Hans India
Poverty in India reduced via tangible boost in household living standards, incomes
New Delhi: The World Bank's revised figures reinforce that poverty in India has reduced not just statistically, but through tangible improvements in household living standards and incomes, according to a government factsheet released on Saturday. India's poverty decline is a story of technical refinement meeting policy results. In the face of a raised poverty benchmark, India showed that more honest data, not diluted standards, can reveal real progress. As the global community recalibrates poverty goals, India's example sets a precedent: evidence-based governance, sustained reforms, and methodological integrity can together deliver transformational outcomes, the factsheet read. The World Bank has announced a major revision to global poverty estimates, raising the International Poverty Line (IPL) from $2.15 per day (2017 PPP) to $3.00 per day (2021 PPP). While the change led to a global increase in the count of extreme poverty by 125 million, India emerged as a statistical outlier in a positive direction. Using more refined data and updated survey methods, India not only withstood the raised threshold but also demonstrated a massive reduction in poverty. The new poverty line would have increased the count of global extreme poverty by 226 million people. But thanks to India's data revision, the net global increase was only 125 million — as India's revised data reduced the count by 125 million on its own, the data showed. India's latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) adopted the Modified Mixed Recall Period (MMRP) method, replacing the outdated Uniform Reference Period (URP). This shift used shorter recall periods for frequently purchased items and captured more realistic estimates of actual consumption. As a result, consumption recorded in national surveys rose, leading to a drop in poverty estimates. In 2011–12, applying MMRP reduced India's poverty rate from 22.9 per cent to 16.22 per cent, even under the older $2.15 poverty line. In 2022–23, poverty under the new $3.00 line stood at 5.25 per cent, while under the older $2.15 line, it dropped further to 2.35 per cent. In 2023–24, the average Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE) was Rs 4,122 in rural areas and Rs 6,996 in urban areas, excluding the value of items received free through social welfare programmes. When these are included, the figures rise to Rs 4,247 and Rs 7,078, respectively. This is significant increase from the rural MPCE of Rs 1,430 and urban MPCE of Rs 2,630 in 2011-12. The urban-rural consumption gap has narrowed from 84 per cent in 2011–12 to 70 per cent in 2023–24, indicating a reduction in consumption disparities between urban and rural households. All 18 major states reported an increase in average MPCE for both rural and urban areas. Odisha experienced the highest rural increase (about 14 per cent), while Punjab saw the highest urban increase (about 13 per cent). 'The Gini coefficient, a measure of consumption inequality, decreased from 0.266 to 0.237 in rural areas and from 0.314 to 0.284 in urban areas between 2022–23 and 2023–24, suggesting a reduction in consumption inequality across most major states,' according to the factsheet.
Mint
4 hours ago
- Mint
India's extreme poverty rate dropped sharply to 5.3% due to free, subsidised food transfers: World Bank data shows
New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) India's extreme poverty rate declined sharply to 5.3 per cent over a decade from 27.1 per cent in 2011-12 even as the World Bank revised upwards its threshold poverty line to USD 3 per day. Given India's inflation rate between 2017 and 2021, a revised extreme poverty line of USD 3 would constitute a 15 per cent higher threshold than USD 2.15 expressed in 2021 prices and result in a 5.3 per cent poverty rate in 2022-23, the World Bank said in a report. In India, the report said, 54,695,832 people lived on less than USD 3 per day in 2024. Thus, the poverty rate at USD 3 per day (2021 PPP -- percentage population) is 5.44 per cent in 2024. The extreme poverty rate decreased from 16.2 to 2.3 per cent between 2011-12 and 2022-23, while the poverty rate at the lower middle income country (LMIC) line declined by 33.7 percentage points, it said. Free and subsidised food transfers supported poverty reduction, and the rural-urban poverty gap narrowed. The five most populous states account for 54 per cent of the extremely poor, it said. With regard to economy, the report said, real GDP of India was around 5 per cent below the pre-pandemic trend level as of FY25. Growth should gradually converge back to potential over 2027-28 assuming the current global uncertainties are resolved in an orderly fashion, it said. "The outlook, however, is subject to significant downside risks, as policy shifts may continue to unfold globally. Elevated trade tensions would dampen demand for India's exports and further delay the recovery in investment," it said. The current account deficit is expected to average around 1.2 per cent of GDP over FY26-28 and remain adequately financed by capital inflows, it said, adding that foreign exchange reserves are projected to remain stable around 16 per cent of GDP. India has lifted 171 million people from extreme poverty in the decade between 2011-12 and 2022-23, the World Bank said. "Over the past decade, India has significantly reduced poverty. Extreme poverty (living on less than USD 2.15 per day) fell from 16.2 per cent in 2011-12 to 2.3 per cent in 2022-23, lifting 171 million people above this line, the World Bank had said in its 'Poverty & Equity Brief' on India in April. The rural extreme poverty dropped from 18.4 per cent to 2.8 per cent, and urban from 10.7 per cent to 1.1 per cent, narrowing the rural-urban gap from 7.7 to 1.7 percentage points a 16 per cent annual decline, it had said.
