Seaweed culture, post-harvest processing, and market generation for employment of coastal poor communities in Cox's Bazar

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.