The Geographical Indication (GI) tag for agar-yielding red seaweed Gracilaria dura may encourage farmers to embrace commercial farming and help boost their income, contributing to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, a senior scientist from CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute has suggested.
Agar, also known as agar agar, is a jelly-like edible substance obtained from the red seaweed and possesses excellent thickening or gelling properties. It finds huge usage as tissue culture media during research involving growth of micro-organisms, in the fields of genetic engineering and biotechnology and dentistry.
Food-grade agar is used in the preparation of jellies, dairy products such as yogurt and confectioneries.
Dr Vaibhav A Mantri, Senior Principal Scientist from the CSIR lab in an article published in the Current Science said that when GI is tagged (to any product), it helps growers get the maximum price for their premium produce.
Making the case for GI certification to this specific strain of G. dura, he said the seaweed has restricted distribution in and around Veraval, Gujarat and on the basis of its unique intrinsic attributes useful for aquaculture and product.
The scientist further said that the agarophyte trade based on seaweed landings is worth Rs 20 million per year. Further, to cater to the entire domestic agar demand, 4000 tonnes of dry feedstock is needed, and it can only be met through commercial farming. Seaweeds, a marine renewable resource, have recently generated enormous interest nationally and internationally due to their utility in commodity products of everyday use.
Currently, the agar requirement for our country is 400 tonnes per year. Against this, only 300 tonnes of food-grade and 90 tonnes of bacteriological-grade agar is being produced, largely derived from wild augmentation of other strains such as Gracilaria edulis and Gelidiella acerosa respectively.
Over 10,000 seaweed species are reported worldwide, of which about 1,000(10%) are recorded from Indian shores. The seaweeds from Indian waters, primarily collected from their natural habitat, are used to produce agar and alginates by domestic industries. But due to the low cost of agarophyte feedstock, commercial farming has been discontinued by these seaweed growers.
According to the data available from GIs Registry, there are about 420 GIs registered under different categories, including agriculture, handicraft, foodstuff and manufactured goods.
The prospect of commercial farming of this species in Indian waters is very high. Besides, in India, this species is also reported from Mediterranean waters, e.g. Gulf of Naples, but the quality of agar obtained from the feedstock of Mediterranean waters was considerably low with diminutive industrial utility.
