How a seaweed harvesting collective sustains a village in Zanzibar

Biasha Hamadi Makungu steps in at low tide, carefully threading her way past vibrant coral colonies and congregations of spiky sea urchins.

Ms. Makungu is searching for seaweed. Over the past 26 years, she has cultivated and hauled countless tons of it to shore from the coast of Fumba, a village in the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar.

“I started harvesting seaweed because of the scarcity of water,” she says.

Most villagers in Fumba are subsistence farmers, growing cassava, bananas, cabbage, and other produce. But when the tides are right, Ms. Makungu and 14 other women work as part of Pania Uchupe, a seaweed harvesting collective whose name in Swahili roughly translates to “Let’s work hard to succeed.”

Each harvest week lasts four or five days, with the women collecting more than 8,000 kilograms (17,000 pounds) of Eucheuma denticulatum, a strain of red algae. It can be made into a variety of products, from soaps and cosmetics to hot sauce and juice.

The collective has been active for years, selling mostly at local markets or to intermediaries who export to China, the United States, and elsewhere abroad. But in 2021, the women began supplying the SeaWeed Café, a factory in Kerege that’s north of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest port.

“The idea was to invest in seaweed-based foods while empowering local farmers,” says Nancy Iraba, a marine scientist who founded the factory.

Back in Fumba, the women of the collective sit in a circle, picking through baskets of semidried seaweed. They will reserve some of it for their own families, whipping up cakes, soups, and kachumbari (a traditional tomato-based salad).

Ms. Makungu supports her children and grandkids with her harvests; her husband, a former schoolteacher, died a few years ago.

“Our mothers didn’t do this – we are the first generation here,” she says. “And we’ll teach our children to do the same.”

Kang-Chun Cheng

SEA’S THE OPPORTUNITY: Biasha Hamadi Makungu has harvested seaweed for 26 years. The earnings allow her to care for her children and grandkids in Fumba.

Kang-Chun Cheng

IT’S ALL IN THE PROCESS: Workers sort through seaweed at a factory called the SeaWeed Café. It’s located in Kerege, north of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest port.

Kang-Chun Cheng

A BOOMING BUSINESS: Marine scientist Nancy Iraba, the founder of the SeaWeed Café, surveys items in storage at the factory’s processing plant.

Kang-Chun Cheng

FRESH SUPPLIES: Cilantro, an upscale shop in Dar es Salaam, sells a variety of products, including refrigerated, edible sea moss gels, made by the SeaWeed Café.

Kang-Chun Cheng

KNOWLEDGE CIRCLE: Some of the women from the collective assemble in Fumba, a coastal village.

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