Sa Huynh salt making industry disappears amid cultural heritage

Sa Huynh salt making is recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage, but in the heart of that heritage space, salt farmers still struggle to make a living and maintain their profession.

Traditional profession between salty everyday life

The Sa Huynh salt making profession was formed in the 19th century, passed down from generation to generation, and is a characteristic of the people of Pho Thanh ward, Duc Pho town ( Quang Ngai province).

At the end of 2024, the salt making profession in Sa Huynh was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage, but this heritage is at risk of fading away.

Sa Huynh salt fields

May is the peak of the salt season, under the scorching sun of Central Vietnam, Mr. Ngo Tuan (born in 1963, Pho Thanh ward, Duc Pho town) still rakes salt in the field. Having earned a living from salt for more than 35 years, Mr. Tuan, like many salt farmers here, is familiar with the hardships of the job.

To get white salt, salt makers must build dikes and lead water into a 200m² field that has been compacted and covered with sand. This preparation process takes about 2 months, after which saltwater can be brought in, usually at noon, when the seawater is saltiest, so that the salt can crystallize quickly.

After 2-3 days, the water evaporates, the salt crystallizes, and people harvest and sell it to traders. This process is repeated throughout the 3-4 months of the dry season. However, salt production depends greatly on the weather. If it rains suddenly, the batch of salt is considered a total loss.

Salt farmer Ngo Tuan makes a living in the harsh sun of Central Vietnam

Each salt plot produces about 100kg of salt, with the current selling price of 1,000 - 1,200 VND/kg, each salt plot sells for 120,000 VND. The effort is high while the selling price is low, and even more sadly, the output is unstable, leading to low and uncertain income. Therefore, the salt making profession, which has a tradition of more than 200 years, now has almost no young people. The salt making profession is still preserved mainly thanks to the elderly who have been in the profession for decades.

“The difficulty is not only the hard work but also the output for the finished salt. Many salt crops have to be piled up because no one buys them from one season to the next. However, we are still determined to stick with the job and maintain it, ” said Mr. Nguyen Phu (born in 1967, Pho Thanh ward, Duc Pho town).

The finished salt is pure white but consumption is unstable.

Preserving salt making in the Sa Huynh cultural heritage space

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong - Vice Chairman of Pho Thanh Ward People's Committee - said that the whole ward currently has about 500 households making salt, with a total area of ​​about 120 hectares. According to Ms. Phuong, the salt making profession has been associated with the people of Sa Huynh for hundreds of years, so despite the difficulties, people are still determined to keep the profession. "Although it is so difficult, salt farmers are still determined to keep the traditional profession. This is not only a profession that supports many generations of people, but also the soul, the crystallization of the cultural identity associated with the land of Sa Huynh" , Vice Chairman of Pho Thanh Ward People's Committee Nguyen Thi Phuong said and added that in order to keep the profession sustainable, recently, Sa Huynh salt farmers have invested in and applied the method of producing salt on canvas to improve quality, reduce impurities in finished salt and help harvest faster and cleaner.

In addition to the proactive efforts of the people, the local government has sought the support of organizations and units to preserve and promote the traditional profession of making salt in Sa Huynh. A typical example is the technical support project to preserve traditional salt fields associated with the development of community tourism sponsored by the United Nations Development Program, the Small Projects Funding Program - Global Environment Facility (UNDP/GEF - SGP), assigned to the Farmers' Association of Pho Thanh Ward to implement.

People keep making salt in Sa Huynh not only as a livelihood but also to preserve the local cultural identity for hundreds of years.

The project will be implemented from May 2024 to October 2025, focusing on activities that combine the conservation of traditional salt fields with promoting Sa Huynh cultural values ​​and developing community tourism, making Sa Huynh a tourist destination to experience salt making.

According to Dr. Doan Ngoc Khoi - Archaeological expert, Sa Huynh salt fields are an inseparable part of the special national relic space of Sa Huynh Culture, a typical archaeological culture of the Central region. The salt making profession here is also collective, passed down through many generations. The salt makers here, despite many difficulties, still persevere in maintaining the traditional profession as a part of the living heritage.

Although the Sa Huynh salt industry has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage, salt farmers are still struggling to maintain their profession amid difficulties in output and unstable income. With the support of the government and international organizations, many efforts are being made to preserve the salt industry in conjunction with developing community tourism.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/mai-mot-nghe-muoi-sa-huynh-giua-vung-di-san-van-hoa-386596.html