Plastic bags less than 0.05 millimeters thick have been banned in Madagascar since October last year and a Malagasy company has been importing cassava starch to produce biodegradable alternative bags. At first sight, the bags look like ordinary plastic bags, but they are made of cassava and do not contain polyethylene. According to the manufacturers, the bags need 3 to 6 months only to decompose, compared with the hundred years for the plastic version. (..) Last year, the country asserts having made 40 tons of the bags and hopes to multiply production to 360 tons in 2016 and see her invention crossing the oceans.
Dans China Post
However, at times when he is able to spend 20 days a month at sea tending to his farm, Birisoa can produce up to 140 kilograms of dried red algae with his 60 rows every 45 days. This generates an additional 70,000 ariary (about US$21) for the family income. While its insufficient to cover the entire month's expenses, it is enough to pay the 20,000 ariary (about US$6) monthly school fees for his four children who are now attending the village's private school... with 120 rows, "the maximum a farmer can maintain during a season, a household can produce up to 300 kilograms of algae, and, with the current price of the product, earn 150,000 ariary (about US$46) every 45 days." This amount is equivalent to the minimum monthly salary in Madagascar, but that income has helped change the lives of many fishermen in this southern part of the Great Island where algaculture has been practiced for nearly 10 years now... In Beheloke where algaculture was introduced in 2013, the 33 algae farmers can still only produce 400 kilograms of dried algae every two weeks
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