Spirulina Flood Damage

    The Evergreen Spirulina farm located between Pondicherry and Chennai, is a beautiful sight with tanks of dark green spirulina.

Spirulina Farm

        Spirulina is used as a food supplement to combat malnutrition.1 gram is said to be as nutritious as 100g of spinach or carrots.

      Spirulina is an alga which grows in hot climatic conditions (The optimum temperature for growth being 35°C). The heavy rains and flooding that came with the Nov-Dec 2015 annual monsoon rains lead to severe flooding that affected the Coromandel Coast region of the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and the union territory of Puducherry.

      Evergreen Spirulina, a Social enterprise set up by a group of 15 women in July 2014, started harvesting Spirulina in May 2015. Evergreen Spirulina farm which is located in KN Palayam, Marakkanam about 35 Kms from Pondicherry, has also been affected because of the flooding.

       There has been zero harvest since 10^th November. The tanks that the algae are grown overflowed because of the rains along with the chemicals and the algae causing a lot of loss. After the rains the algae takes more than 15 days to grow back and they are at this stage now. Usually about 4 people are usually employed everyday in a shift basis. But now with no harvesting only 2 women are employed.

Woman stirring the Spirulina Tank

          Though the women are disheartened at the present condition, they have not lost hope. They have been working tirelessly since the rain stopped, stirring the tanks every 30 minutes for the Spirulina to grow back. They have learnt much from the flood as to how to protect the tanks from heavy rains, how to recover from this and so on. 

Women who work at Evergreen Spirulina with their children

          Unlimited Tamil Nadu is helping them with flood relief and is also assisting them in marketing their product.

      The Evergreen Sprulina farm employs about 15 women. They hope to expand so that they can employ more women and lift them out of poverty.