Praia, Jan. 26, 2026 (Lusa) - After a year since they began harvesting seaweed on the coast of Santiago Island, Cabo Verde, Maria José Carvalho and her colleagues are harvesting tomatoes and corn that this same seaweed helped fertilise, in a recipe that is useful for the whole world.
"I already believed in this idea, but now I'm sure it works: the tomatoes are excellent, I've tasted them in a salad and they're very good," she tells Lusa, standing in the middle of a plot of land in Moia Moia, where they have already harvested more than 70 kilos of tomatoes and lots of corn cobs.
At the same time, they measure various parameters (acidity, moisture, calibre, weight) before sending samples for detailed analysis at the University of York, UK, a scientific partner, for product certification.
This is a joint effort with Cabo Verde's National Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (INIDA), explains Edita Magileviciute, marine biologist and president of the Cabo Verdean Ecotourism Association (Eco-CV), the driving force behind the project.
The harvest that is now being carried out shows that "agroecology works, we don't need chemical fertilisers" and even animal manure can be optional, "especially in coastal communities," says Edita, showing packets of dried seaweed in her hands.
These are fertilisers that women produce in a small hut and can be either dry or liquid.
In one way or another, "they are cheaper and, more importantly, healthier" than any chemicals.
Last year, "more than 150 tonnes of seaweed washed up" in Moia Moia Bay alone, which "in principle, is a consequence of climate change", dragging it from the Caribbean.
Rising sea levels and increased nutrients cause seaweed to grow more, unbalancing ecosystems in various parts of the planet.
"By looking for solutions in the social component, we solve ecological problems," she pointed out.
The project is turning a problem into an opportunity, adapting a process that has already worked in other countries - where biofuels are even made from algae - to a Cabo Verdean community.
"We hope the project will go ahead so that we can earn more income. There are seven of us women at sea and in the fields, and we have no plans to emigrate," says Leise Fernandes, adding that their husbands support the women's empowerment initiative.
"We explained what we wanted and they understood," she adds, while helping her colleagues in the field: in addition to harvesting, there is methodical work around a tomato growth monitoring table, where various parameters are recorded.
Maria José Carvalho carries a soil analyser, a precision ruler and a tape measure to check figures.
The project started at the end of 2024 and included swimming lessons and algae identification. The next steps include "nutritional composition testing and certification for the products to enter the market," with the aim of making the initiative profitable and self-sustainable, says Edita.
"We have created a micro-enterprise led by women who prepare everything," including the methodology, on which "they can provide training" and replicate the project under the acronym AMMAR - Alga Mulher Mar Agricultura Resiliência (Seaweed Women Sea Agriculture Resilience).
The group is now undergoing training in management and IT, "so that by the end of 2026, the women will be 100% ready" to market their agricultural products.
The focus is on training them, making them "strong and independent," and Edita believes that the project will not end: "with the positive results we have, absolutely not" - and even if it reached a dead end, this group already has the knowledge to move forward.
Emigration in the region "unfortunately continues," and even took two members of the team last year.
"It's the reality," says Edita, hoping that when the company starts to take shape, it will help to "mitigate a little" the exodus of the population.
One of the most important partners is the University of York, with a centre for new agricultural products where products undergo analysis and testing that do not exist in Cabo Verde and are very expensive.
In the archipelago, INIDA has supplied seeds and collaborated on other tests, and community associations and higher education institutions, such as Jean Piaget University (UniPiaget) and the University of Cabo Verde (UniCV), have also been involved.
Leise Fernandes and her colleagues resume their journey, because they have to do a little bit of everything: collect seaweed, make compost, tend to the experimental fields and "think positively".
LFO/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
