Salt production area is gradually shrinking, why?

Binh Thuan currently has two salt producing districts, Tuy Phong and Ham Thuan Nam. However, the salt production area is currently shrinking and facing many difficulties. What is the reason?

From abandoned salt fields

These days, when passing through the Chi Cong salt field (Tuy Phong district), we can see a rather large but empty space, falling into a state of wilderness right in the center of the commune. When the north wind season comes, bringing with it a gloomy sky, the image of people diligently raking salt in the field a few years ago is no longer there. However, this is just one of the salt production sites in Binh Thuan province that has stopped operating and narrowed its area in recent times.

*Current status of Chi Cong salt field.*

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that in Tuy Phong district, the current salt land area is 788.5 hectares, of which Chi Cong commune has 62 hectares, Vinh Hao Salt Joint Stock Company has 570 hectares, and Thong Thuan Company Limited has 156.5 hectares. However, from 2022 to now, Tuy Phong district only has Vinh Hao Salt Joint Stock Company, Thong Thuan Salt Company Limited and a few households of Vinh Hao commune, about 6 households/26 hectares, operating. In particular, the salt area of Chi Cong commune is not in production and is currently abandoned. There are many reasons for the decrease in the salt production area in the area. However, the provincial agricultural sector determined that the main difficulty is due to erratic weather changes, significantly reducing salt output. On the other hand, salt prices often fluctuate due to unstable output. Salt production in some localities is no longer suitable due to low efficiency. In addition, the need to convert production purposes to serve tourism, services and urbanization, population growth leads to housing needs. Particularly, 62 hectares of salt production land in Chi Cong commune (located in 3 villages of Thanh Luong, Hiep Duc 1, Hiep Duc 2) due to dirty water, waste, ineffective production, people requested to convert 22 hectares to residential land. Meanwhile, based on the project to adjust the general urban planning of Phan Ri Cua, Tuy Phong district until 2035 approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 1601 dated June 26, 2019, the salt production area in Chi Cong commune is planned as mangrove eco-tourism land, new multi-functional center land, green land for water surface.

At Thong Thuan Company Limited, after discussion and analysis of departments, localities and this enterprise, the Provincial People's Committee agreed to continue to suspend the Thong Thuan salt field project in Vinh Hao commune. The reason is that salt production activities have repeatedly caused environmental pollution, causing public outrage and affecting security and order in the locality. According to the approved land use planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050 of Tuy Phong district, this area is planned for energy projects.

Same in Ham Thuan Nam

Along with Tuy Phong district, Ham Thuan Nam also has a planned salt production area of 110 hectares, of which Tan Thuan commune has 90 hectares and Tan Thanh commune has 20 hectares. However, the actual production area is currently 48 hectares, including Tan Thuan 46 hectares and Tan Thanh commune 2 hectares. In particular, in Tan Thuan commune, there is Thanh Phong salt cooperative, with a production area of 122.3 hectares and 151 participating members. The amount of salt produced is all purchased by businesses and traders outside the locality, the price of salt fluctuates from 800 - 1,000 VND/kg. In addition, in the district, there is also Gia Thinh Trading and Service Company Limited processing salt (main product is seasoning powder).

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuoc - Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the current difficulty of the locality is that the salt production infrastructure has been invested in upgrading and renovating but is not yet synchronous, so it is not possible to apply salt production on an industrial scale. People mainly produce manually by drying water, and have not applied science and technology in production to increase productivity and quality. On the other hand, the planned salt field area of Ham Thuan Nam district is currently entangled in the planning of tourism projects and public infrastructure, so many salt farmers tend to sell their land, and are not confident in production; some salt farmers have stopped production, leading to a sharp decrease in the salt area.

Meanwhile, in the planned land use in Ham Thuan Nam district for the period of 2021 - 2030, the salt production area of Thanh Phong Cooperative is planned to be converted to commercial and service land. Therefore, the District People's Committee agreed to "convert salt production to other production and business sectors to increase the income of cooperative members". At the same time, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Ham Thuan Nam District People's Committee to coordinate with relevant departments and branches to guide Thanh Phong Cooperative to convert its model from salt production and shrimp farming to other fields such as commercial business and services, and research on land swapping so that the Cooperative can develop suitable and effective agricultural production models. Regarding the province's orientation for salt production and processing in the coming time: The production scale in the period of 2025 - 2030 will remain stable at 570 hectares. The output from 2023 - 2025 will reach 75,000 tons/year.

As of November 2023, the province's salt production output was over 83,300 tons, reaching 119% of the plan of 70,000 tons, including 82,839 tons of industrial salt and 489.39 tons of clean salt. At this time, the weather is not favorable for salt production.

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