Pride of Bac Lieu salt industry

(CPV) - With the historical and cultural values crystallized from salt grains, we can completely believe that Bac Lieu salt will continue to grow, salt farmers will get rich from salt grains and Ba Thac salt will forever be the pride of Bac Lieu people.

Many people call Bac Lieu the land of salt, originally called Ba Thac salt, later also called Long Dien salt (because Long Dien, Dong Hai district has the largest salt production area in the province). After more than 100 years of development, Bac Lieu salt has been closely associated with the land and people as an indispensable part of the homeland's flavor.

Source: Organizing Committee of Bac Lieu Salt Festival

Increase production value

Looking back at history, the ancient salt industry of Bac Lieu has contributed greatly to the economic growth of the province. Not only that, the salt industry in Bac Lieu also contains special cultural values. The profession reflects the identity and unique natural conditions of Bac Lieu. Making salt grains that do not have a bitter taste - that is the special point, the quintessence passed down from generation to generation of Bac Lieu salt farmers.

It can be seen that Bac Lieu salt is not only a purely economic commodity but also creative and reflects the customs, habits, beliefs, and unique natural conditions of the land. In particular, the true stories or anecdotes surrounding the salt industry and Bac Lieu salt grains are tangible values and potential for tourism.

Sharing about the current salt making profession in Bac Lieu, Mr. Ngo Nguyen Phong, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Lieu, said that currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has agreed with Bac Lieu province to organize the Salt Festival event from March 6-8, 2025. On this occasion, the locality also invites investors to come to learn, survey, and evaluate the reality to build processing factories and consume salt products domestically and internationally.

"Currently, some investors have registered to build salt factories and exhibition areas in Bac Lieu province. At the same time, some investors in Hanoi have entered into a production chain with cooperatives to consume products and build salt storage warehouses, selling at the right price," said Mr. Phong.

According to Deputy Director of the Department Ngo Nguyen Phong, in order to increase the value of salt grains, it is necessary to focus on investing in building warehouses to store salt, and when the price is stable and profitable, then sell it. Through investment promotion, Bac Lieu province has found a number of foreign partners such as China to create links for salt consumption. "If we want the value of salt grains to increase, we must improve the quality, when there is quality, the price of salt will automatically increase. The province will orient production in a way that gradually increases the quality of salt products from 3 stars to 4 stars, 4 stars to 5 stars. Currently, Bac Lieu is proposing to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to recognize 2 salt products that meet OCOP standards with 5 stars this year," said Mr. Phong.

Mr. Phong recommends that salt farmers should pay attention to the quality of water sources during the salt production process to gradually improve product quality. Currently, salt is not only consumed domestically but also exported abroad. Therefore, the demand of foreign markets always requires strict standards and product quality, so farmers should get into the habit of producing salt of the best quality. Moreover, salt production also depends on the weather, so people should regularly update weather information to have appropriate production directions, avoiding cases where bad weather will affect the crop. "If you want a large enough product, there is no other way than to produce according to the cooperative economic model. Because of this type of production, salt farmers will be able to produce according to the linked chain, and their products will be guaranteed. From there, the production value will gradually increase, but small-scale production will have unstable prices due to unstable output," Mr. Phong requested.

Mr. Ngo Nguyen Phong, Deputy Director of Bac Lieu Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Photo: HNV)

Developing the salt industry in a sustainable direction

In order for the salt industry to develop sustainably, the salt market to be stable, and the situation of unstable prices depending on traders to no longer exist, salt farmers need to eliminate the mindset and habits of fragmented and small-scale production. Instead, they must boldly participate in collective economic models such as cooperative groups (THT) and cooperatives to receive support from the state with policies, especially production according to a chain from input to output, and be committed to consuming all products. From there, salt farmers can feel secure in production without having to worry about the harvested salt grains having no buyers or being forced to lower prices. In fact, in recent times, Bac Lieu province has also issued many support policies, invested in infrastructure for salt fields and is determined to preserve the traditional salt industry. The People's Committee of Bac Lieu province has approved the Project "Improving the value of salt production and processing" for the period 2021-2030.

Notably, in order to preserve the existing salt area, with the application of policies and projects to develop the Bac Lieu salt brand associated with the economic development strategy of the province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has supported 130 billion VND for the project to upgrade the salt fields of Bac Lieu province. In particular, upgrading the infrastructure of the salt fields, households in the project will be invested in electricity, upgrading roads, dredging irrigation; improving the efficiency and quality of salt, helping salt farmers apply technology to increase salt productivity. At the same time, calling for investors in the salt processing sector to build a brand for food salt, medicinal salt, tourist gifts...; building an exhibition area for salt, tools, means of salt production and the history of the salt industry to connect with tourism.

In addition, the United Nations Global Environment Facility, the sponsor of the Project "Preserving and enhancing the value of traditional salt making associated with coastal tourism development in Hoa Binh district", has also piloted the model of Smart Salt Tourism Village associated with preserving the traditional salt making village in Vinh Tien hamlet (Vinh Thinh commune, Hoa Binh district).

It can be said that, besides the economic value, the salt industry in Bac Lieu also contains special cultural values. The stories surrounding the salt industry and Bac Lieu salt grains are tangible values and potentials for tourism. Bac Lieu will build tourism products to experience the salt making profession, souvenir products from salt, medicinal herbs from salt; build a salt festival and organize it annually to promote and attract tourists to visit and enjoy. Currently, Bac Lieu has 10 salt products that have been recognized as OCOP certified products, including 7 products of Bac Lieu Salt Joint Stock Company with 4 stars (Bac Lieu refined salt, Bac Lieu shrimp salt, Bac Lieu vegetarian salt, Bac Lieu grain salt, Bac Lieu chili salt, Bac Lieu pepper salt) and 3 products of Dong Hai Salt Joint Stock Company with 3 stars (Clean grain salt, dried clean grain salt, dried refined salt with iodine).

The leaders of Bac Lieu province also clearly affirmed that the salt making profession in Bac Lieu has gone through more than 100 years with many ups and downs, salt grains are closely associated with the life of labor production, deeply ingrained in the consciousness and passed down through many generations. Despite many difficulties, Bac Lieu salt farmers are always determined to stick with the profession with the hope that the salt industry will flourish.

Bac Lieu province is determined to preserve the traditional salt industry. This is affirmed through the approval of the project to improve the value of salt production and processing in the period of 2021 - 2030, with the goal of maintaining a salt production area of 1,500 hectares by 2030, with a salt output of 66,000 tons/year. Along with accelerating the implementation of items of the project to upgrade Bac Lieu province's salt fields supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bac Lieu province also actively supports salt companies in innovating technological processes to process products in the direction of increasing added value, serving domestic demand as well as export. At the same time, the province focuses on exploiting and developing the "Bac Lieu Salt" brand certified with geographical indications associated with tourism development, considering this a solution to improve efficiency and sustainable development of Bac Lieu salt industry./.

(CPV) - With the historical and cultural values ​​crystallized from salt grains, we can completely believe that Bac Lieu salt will continue to grow, salt farmers will get rich from salt grains and Ba Thac salt will forever be the pride of Bac Lieu people.

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(CPV) - With the historical and cultural values crystallized from salt grains, we can completely believe that Bac Lieu salt will continue to grow, salt farmers will get rich from salt grains and Ba Thac salt will forever be the pride of Bac Lieu people.