ARUSHA, Tanzania, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Ali Mohamed Shein, president of Tanzania's archipelago of Zanzibar, said on Thursday that his government plans to build seaweed processing plant to improve price of the marine resource.
President Shein unveiled the plan when speaking to the ruling party leaders in Zanzibar's Unguja South District.
"I am aware of the challenges facing seaweed growers including unreliable and unpredictable prices. But, I can assure you that all those challenges will be addressed as soon as possible and seaweed farmers would also benefit from the sweat," he said.
According to the government, the seaweed farming sector used to employ about 23,000 people, whereby 90 percent of whom were women.
He said that his government has already talked with an Indonesian seaweed processing company, which agreed to build giant seaweed processing plant in Zanzibar, which consist of many small islands and two large ones, Unguja and Pemba.
According to Shein, this is a result of his last year's visit to Indonesia, where he met with different seaweed stakeholders who agreed to come up with cooperation agreement on seaweed farming development.
"What is remaining is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the cooperation to be fruitful," he said.
Commercially viable seaweed was first introduced to Zanzibar's main island, Unguja, in the late 1980s from the Philippines.
Zanzibar has historically been among the largest exporters of seaweed in the world. Enditem
