An afternoon swim in the ocean was worth it.

My two friends and I just had enough fare to take us to Kenyatta beach just to the north of Mombasa, Kenya’s second city.

We were teenagers looking for an afternoon thrill and it worked.

But we had done a miscalculation.

We used our fare back by buying bread to munch in now that we were extremely hungry.

Our swim back to the shore was prompted by an approaching dark cloud signalling a storm in the offing.

When we got the the shore, we waded through the seawater as blackish brown seaweeds stuck onto our feet, faces and bodies.

Numerous seaweeds are washed onto the shores of the ocean on a daily basis.

At times, they are so numerous that they obscure the presence of sharp rocks (mashaza in Swahili), sea urchins or other dangerous creatures on the sea floor.

But seaweeds are not your usual weeds.

They don’t proliferate and choke our crops…

They don’t harbor pests and diseases…

They don’t steal nutrients from the soil as normal weeds do.

They carry the tag ‘weed’ simply because they seem to carry little value.

But is that so?

SEAWEEDS AND FOOD

You may wonder how the two relate to each other but they do.

Seaweeds are loaded with a significant level of agricultural nutrients such as nitrates.

Infact some organic farmers often take seaweeds and treat them with hot water to draw out the nutrients which they use as foliar spray for crops.

Indeed seaweeds are categorized as organic fertilizers and in many ways are useful to the soil.

But seaweeds aren’t just useful in the soil.

PACKAGING, PLATES, CUPS

They contain a substance called cellulose…

The most abundant naturally occurring polymer on earth.

It’s not only found in seaweeds but also in any plant matter.

But we consider seaweeds because its a waste and we desire to find profitable use of it.

Cellulose can be derived from plant material and be used to make packaging material, disposable cups and plates which biodegrade easily.

But that’s not all.

Cellulose could be used to make pads for girls, writing material etc.

Now back to seaweeds.

Seaweeds provide an opportunity especially for coastal communities to make value put on waste.

Indeed there are start ups that have ventured into organic fertilizer production and manufacture of packaging material using seaweeds.

But opportunities of R&D and innovation are there looking at the diverse packaging and farming needs we have.

IN CONCLUSION

So as we left the beach, we headed towards the showers to freshen up and remove the salts from our bodies.

Fresh water replaced seawater on our skins.

But also, dark brown strands of unwanted seaweeds were washed off.

To us, they are nothing but a nuisance.

But not to an aspiring innovator and entrepreneur in the agriculture and packaging sectors.