Salt makers rake in the dough on rising prices

23:03' 04/05/2008 (GMT+7)
A salt worker in Duc Pho District in the central province of Quang Ngai harvests salt.
Sharp increases in the price of salt has compelled salt workers in the Mekong (Cuu Long) Delta region to fill up their aquaculture areas to produce salt again.
Several years ago, the price of salt was low, even falling to VND100,000 (US$6.25) per tonne. Salt makers could hardly make ends meet even while working very hard.
Unable to earn a living from making salt, a lot of farmers in the Mekong Delta shifted to aquaculture. However, earlier this year, the price of salt increased considerably, rising to VND1 to 1.2 million ($62.50 - $75) per tonne.
The increase was due to bad weather-early and long-lasting rainy periods - which caused low yields for salt makers.
Farmers in these areas, who gain little from aquaculture, are shifting back to salt again, hoping to earn more money.
According to estimates by departments of agriculture and rural development nationwide, salt makers in Ben Tre Province’s biggest salt producing area widened their production area to 860ha, and Soc Trang Province’s Vinh Chau District now has 1,400ha for salt production. Meanwhile, farmers in Tra Vinh Province have filled up 100ha of shrimp-raising area to make salt.

Many farmers in Ninh Thuan Province even borrowed money to invest in making salt. Trinh De Thoai, a resident of Khanh Chu Village in Khanh Hai Commune of Ninh Hai District, borrowed money at a very high interest rate. According to him, the cost of salt production is about VND180,000 ($11.25) per tonne, while the price of salt is currently VND1 million per tonne. Salt makers can profit greatly from making salt this year, earning VND25 to 30 million (up to $1,825) per ha.

According to Chau Thanh Long, deputy director of Ninh Thuan Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ninh Hai District has 800ha of shrimp-raising area. But earlier this year farmers filled up all these area to make salt.

"Though the increase in salt prices can help farmers make better earnings, giving over all cultivation area to salt making will destroy the province’s long-term plan for aquaculture," said Long.

This has become an issue that is hard to control among farmers: whenever a product’s price is high, farmers will immediately widen production area, ignoring the warnings of local authorities and planners.

A good trend or not?

"We cannot ban farmers from making salt. We have warned them not to destroy aquaculture raising areas to make salt, since the price of salt has always been fluctuating and irregular. But farmers all see the short-term profit," said Nguyen Minh Dang, vice chairman of the Long Dien Tay Commune’s People’s Committee in Bac Lieu Province.

Le Hung Hien, head of the Economic Department of Ninh Thuoc District in Ninh Thuan Province, shared the same concerns, saying that if the price of salt comes down again in the coming years, farmers’ lives in these areas would become even harder.

Stable development

With long-term perspective, the application of modern production methods in making salt needs to be carried out so that farmers can carry on with this traditional job.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan, the sector will put priority investment into trial projects for salt production that apply new technologies in order to gradually modernise the salt-making process.

The goal is to improve the productivity of salt making from 50 - 60 tonnes per hectare to 75 - 80 tonnes per hectare, instead of massive widening in production area.

Ben Tre Province has been successful in applying a new production model by covering the surface of the salt making area with plastic canvas. This can help shorten production time as well as increase productivity and salt quality. However, this method is costly, at around VND4.2 million ($260) per ha.

Thus, local authorities are therefore urged to support salt makers in providing preferential borrowing interest or other policies that encourage the adoption of more advanced production methods.