( Quang Ngai Newspaper) - It is the main production season, but the current salt price is only 1,000 - 1,200 VND/kg, causing many difficulties for salt farmers in Pho Thanh ward (Duc Pho town).
Ms. Nguyen Thi Van, Long Thanh 1 residential group, shared that the weather has been erratic these past few days, with sudden rains, so everyone has been raking salt at noon to dry it quickly. Although it is hard work and tiring, the price of salt is currently too low, only 1,000 - 1,200 VND/kg. This makes me, as well as 515 households (more than 1,100 workers) making salt in Pho Thanh ward, quite worried.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, with a salt production area of about 116 hectares, the output is from 7,000 - 8,000 tons/year, while the salt processing capacity of 4 enterprises reaches about 5,000 tons of products/year.
 |
| Most of Sa Huynh salt is used as table salt, which does not meet the requirements of industries, so the output is unstable. In the photo: Preliminary processing of Sa Huynh salt at Sahu Salt One Member Co., Ltd. (Duc Pho Town). |
However, Sa Huynh salt is mainly produced by manual methods, using dried seawater, so it does not ensure the purity and quantity needed to serve the chemical and pharmaceutical industries - the two industries that account for the largest proportion of salt consumption. Therefore, although domestic salt is in stock and the price is low, some enterprises in Dung Quat Economic Zone still have to import thousands of tons of salt each year to serve the equipment cleaning activities.
Director of Sa Huynh Salt Production Cooperative 2 (Pho Thanh Ward) Nguyen Huu Chanh said that to produce pure salt, it is necessary to apply the method of spreading crystallization panels, with an investment cost of 140 - 150 million VND/1,000m2. This is too much money for salt farmers, while the price of salt is always unstable. Therefore, currently only about 10/116ha of salt production is using the method of spreading crystallization panels.
Salt production depends heavily on weather conditions, leading to low productivity and salt quality; while the infrastructure for production and processing is not adequate, especially the warehouse system for storage. This causes salt farmers and cooperatives to fall into a situation where "in the main season, they sell at low prices, and out of season, when the price is high, there is no salt". Salt purchasing and processing enterprises are also passive in their supply and prices are unstable. For example, in 2023, when salt prices increased by 4,000 - 5,000 VND/kg, salt farmers had no salt to sell. While when salt reached its highest productivity (from May to July), the selling price decreased, sometimes below 2,000 VND/kg, even 1,000 VND/kg.
According to Chairman of Pho Thanh Ward People's Committee Nguyen Viet Thanh, income from salt is unstable, so salt farmers are reluctant to borrow capital to invest in equipment and materials to produce pure salt. Although a number of production - consumption chains have been formed, the scale is small, and only a few salt farmers participate. Therefore, the local government as well as salt farmers in Pho Thanh Ward hope that the project to renovate, upgrade infrastructure, and solidify the irrigation system of Sa Huynh salt fields (with a budget of 60 billion VND) will be implemented soon, so that Sa Huynh salt has the opportunity to develop, and salt farmers can feel more secure in their profession.
Article and photos: THANH PHONG
RELATED NEWS:
Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/tin-noi-bat/202407/bap-benh-nghe-muoi-e14139c/
Comment (0)