Ninh Thuan (VNA) - The south-central province of Ninh Thuan willrestructure its salt production by applying advanced techniques and renovatingsalt fields to become the country’s leading producer by 2030, according to itsDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The coastal province is one of the country’s largest salt producers and has atradition of making salt for hundreds of years, mostly in Ninh Hai and ThuanNam districts.

With a coastline of 105km, it has favourable conditions like having seawaterwith a high salinity content and dry and hot weather year round, which not onlyhelps the water evaporate faster but also produce large, dry grains of salt.

But the province faces difficulties because of small-scale production and lowprices.

Farmers produce salt using the traditional method of pumping seawater into saltfields, waiting for the water to evaporate under the sun for a week and thenharvesting the salt.

Nguyen Van Duoc, who has been doing this for 20 years in Ninh Hai’s Tri Hai commune,said his 6,000sq.m field produced eight tonnes of salt a week because offavourable weather conditions this year.

But prices are low, and so he has not made much profit.

Most farmers use the traditional method and operate on a small scale withoutcontracts, and so face problems like inconsistent prices and demand. Manyothers have switched to other vocations, causing a decline of 188ha this yearto 3,078ha of fields, according to the department.

To get higher prices, farmers need to use techniques like covering the saltfields with canvas sheets to keep out impurities.

But the sheets cost around 1 billion VND (43,240 USD) for a hectare, and somany farmers stick to use traditional methods.

According to Tran Thanh, Director of the Khanh Nhon Salt Production and TradingCo-operative in Ninh Hai, the co-operative produces salt on 200ha but only 3haare covered with sheets.  

Dang Kim Cuong, Director of the department, said to develop salt production,the province was implementing the Government’s development programme for2021-30 and its own restructuring plan to adapt to climate change.

Under the former, Ninh Thuan will become the major industrial salt producer inthe south-central region and lead the country in terms of both area and outputby 2030.

The province plans to produce salt on 3,267ha this decade and have an annualoutput of 650,000 by 2030, including 550,000 tonnes produced industrially.

To achieve the targets, it will upgrade existing infrastructure for industrialproduction and develop production models using advanced techniques, accordingto the department.

It will study renovation of fields in such a way that machines can be used in allstages from pumping seawater to harvesting the salt.

The department is working with relevant agencies and localities in the provinceto draft plans to produce, process and consume salt.

It seeks to develop companies that can produce on a large scale using advancedtechniques and process other salt-related products to add value.

The province will assist individuals and organisations with building warehousesand stockpiling salt to stabilise prices.

It will help small and medium-sized establishments set up salt processingfacilities.

It will expand clean production models and establish salt co-operatives andco-operative groups.

It will work with ministries and other agencies to forecast demand for salt anddraw up proper production plans based on that. 

It will work to build brand names and carry out promotions for salt-relatedproducts./.