by Jameelah Mullen

November 3, 2025

Companies invest to ensure better outcomes for women seaweed farmers.

Women walk along Zanzibar’s beaches in colorful dresses, drawing attention from tourists’ cameras as they go about their daily task of gathering seaweed, a vital ingredient used in various products like food, cosmetics, and bioplastics. Seaweed farming has been a crucial industry in Zanzibar, located off a portion of Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast, for decades. Most of Zanzibar’s 25,000 seaweed farmers are women. 

Rising global demand has made it the second-largest contributor to the local economy after tourism and spices. The industry has also attracted greater interest from donors and investors, some of whom aim to invest in measures to address the increasingly harsh working conditions that can threaten the safety of women seaweed farmers who often spend long days under the sun, which can lead to backaches and skin irritation, and bites from sea creatures. 

“I experience pain in my back, waist, and chest due to the labor in the sea. There are also risks of being stung or bitten,” Mwanaisha Makame Simai told The Associated Press. “Sometimes strong waves sweep you away. I have personally witnessed three cases of people drowning.”

Mhando Waziri, project manager for blue economy initiatives at the nonprofit Milele Zanzibar Foundation, noted that climate change forces women deeper into the ocean, putting them at risk of drowning. Milele’s programs include teaching women seaweed farmers to swim to combat the risk of drowning. 

Most farmers, independently or in collectives, sell their products to local middlemen who sell to larger corporations. Milele has developed programs to help women turn seaweed into products, primarily cosmetics. Waziri estimated that seaweed farmers could earn 10 times as much by selling the raw, unprocessed product to other manufacturers. 

“Ten years ago, people thought you were crazy for working in seaweed,” Klara Schade, director at Mwani Zanzibar, a boutique seaweed farm in the nearby village of  Paje, told the Associated Press. “Now it’s become a buzzword.” Schade has focused on training seaweed farmers in cosmetics manufacturing. Workers at Mwani spend more time in the workshop than out in the ocean. Schade noted that Mwani’s “face and body skin superfood” sells online for $140, meaning its employees earn far more than the average seaweed farmer.

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