Abstract:
Seaweed farming is one of the
aquaculture industries with the greatest
growth rate worldwide, with an annual
production of over 33 billion tonnes, and a
value of USD$11.8 billion which is
predicted to treble by 2024. The current
study was conducted in the Bakkhali River
estuary and set out to survey the seaweed
cultivation, processing, marketing status of
the seaweed farmers and evaluate its
financial benefits. Gracilaria lemaneiformis
and Ulva intestinalis were cultured using the
rope methods. The yield of G. lemaneiformis
and U. intestinalis was good (Ten 15 m long
ropes were used in each of the 45 plots,
produced 7770 kg of G. lemaneiformis in the
first 15 days while using ten 15 m long ropes
were in each of the plots of U. intestinalis
produced 2300 kg). Water parameters viz.
temperature, salinity, pH, DO and
transparency were checked every 15 days.
According to previous literature, winter was
determined to be the most productive time
for seaweed development in Bangladesh.
Seaweed was processed by the sun drying
method and sold to retail clients, neighborhood shops and markets, and
representatives in Cox's Bazar, Bandarban,
Rangamati and Khagrachari district, where
G. lemaneiformis attracting the higher price.
The income of seaweed farmers has
increased more than in the previous years to
maintain their family. Most of the farmers
used raw seaweed as traditional medicine for
the treatment of gastric problem (80%),
diabetes (5%), blood pressure (3%) and
cancer (2%). They also used seaweed as an
additive with other vegetables, mutton and
chicken. Education for coastal people is very
difficult, but after cultivating seaweed, about
60% of farmers can afford their children's
education cost and about 85% of the
households had electric fans, while the
majority had mobile phones. The costbenefit
analysis demonstrated that seaweed
cultivation is highly profitable.
