ABSTRACT
Kappaphycus farming was carried out in coastal waters of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat using different cultivation methods specific to the habitat, and they include floating bamboo raft method, off-bottom monoline method (OM), off-bottom monoline net fenced method, off-bottom monoline tubular method and off-bottom monoline net bag method. The FBR method has been widely used by the growers in coastal waters of Tamil Nadu for commercial farming. The OM method involved a single lengthy rope of 100 m or less depending on availability of cultivation ground. The successful model of Kappaphycus cultivation consisted of five-member self help group. The Indian government should promote Kappaphycus cultivation as a mission mode program to eradicate poverty in the coastal villages and initiate indigenous production of refined/semi-refined for internal use thereby saving the foreign exchange hitherto being incurred for importing the same and also for export of this chemical to earn foreign exchange.
