Slow technological innovation in salt production

It is now the salt making season in Le Uyen village, Xuan Phuong commune, Song Cau town, Phu Yen Province. However, in the local salt fields along the coastal roads , few salt makers are working. The 40-ha salt making area in Le Uyen Villagge is mostly full of seawater. In the past, at this time, salt makers had already build embankment to prevent seawater from flowing into salt fields.

A salt maker Bui Van Vinh in Le Uyen Village looked at the salt field in front of his house and sadly said that in the last few years, local salt makers earned only VND 40,000 fopr a working day.

Wholesalers usally bought the salt with a low prices and complained about the salt quality, he said.

Another salt maker Nguyen Van Dung said that a few days ago, many people in the village wanted to hire some workers to do on their salt fields. However, no one aggreed to work because of cheap labour cost. 

Concerned that noone would buy salt, many salt farmers were hesitate in making more, he said.

In Tuyet Diem salt-making area - the largest salt area of ​​Song Cau Town,  the salt is well known nationwide as sea water crystallises into pure white salt like snow.

Phan Van Minh, a salt maker in Tuyet Diem said that they had to pay at least VND 40,000 for a worker in a day.“If hiring a worker to carry salt from the field to the shore, we only earn VND30,000 daily. Poor us!”

In recent years, salt farmers have applied the production of high-quality salt by spreading plastic tarpaulin on the crystallization field. This method not only help doubles the yield, but the salt is also sold at a higher price than the traditional production method.

However, Nguyen Tien Duy, Director of Tuyet Diem Salt Cooperative, said that salt farmers mainly produced salt manually. Few salt farmers applied new method because they could not cover cost.To cover 1,000 sq.m of salt field with plastic tarpaulin, farmers have to invest VND50 million.

Out of more than 180 ha of ​​salt production are in Song Cau town, only 13.5 ha are covered with plastic tarpaulin..Duy said that for the salt makers, all production and family expenses depend on salt. They have to buy its salt to cover production cost and daily expense. Only a few individuals could buy salt to store when it is cheap and would sell it when the prices go up.

“In recent years, salt production has been precarious, many families have not been able to survive with the traditional profession. Many young people leave the salt fields and go to the southern provinces to work, so it is very difficult to find workers during the salt season. Those who have stayed with the salt industry so far are all elderly," Duy said.“Nhiều năm trở lại đây, nghề làm muối bấp bênh, rất nhiều gia đình đã không trụ lại được với nghề truyền thống. Nhiều thanh niên rời bỏ đồng muối, vào các tỉnh phía Nam làm việc nên tìm nhân công để phục vụ sản xuất khi vào vụ muối cũng rất khó khăn. Những người ở lại gắn bó với nghề muối đến nay đều là người lớn tuổi”, ông Duy nói.

Implementing the restructuring of the salt industry, the People's Committee of Phu Yen province has approved a project to raise the value of salt production and processing from 2021 to 2030. Accordingly, by 2025, the salt area covered with canvas on the Tuyet Diem salt production area in Xuan Binh commune increased to 90 hectares, accounting for 50 per cent of Song cau Town’s salt production area; clean salt output will reach 18,000 tonnes, accounting for 80 per cent of salt production in the whole Song Cau town.