Developing the salt industry to help salt farmers escape poverty

On the morning of December 16, 2024, speaking at a press conference to inform about the Vietnam Salt Festival - Bac Lieu 2025, Mr. Le Duc Thinh - Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation and Rural Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) - emphasized: It is necessary to exploit the full potential and value of the salt industry, improve the quality of life of salt farmers, so that salt makers can get rich from this "white gold" source.

Mr. Le Duc Thinh emphasized: The salt industry development project for the 2021-2030 period approved by the Prime Minister sets the target of increasing the salt production area to 14,224 hectares, with an output of 2 million tons/year; orienting the development of clean salt production and handmade salt; promoting the processing sector, making salt an industry with a turnover of thousands of billions of VND.

Accordingly, the development of the salt industry must be consistent with the overall socio-economic development strategy of the country. Investment in developing salt production in places with favorable natural conditions in a concentrated, large-scale direction, forming industrial salt production areas with modern technology, linking production with processing, recovering post-salt products, and developing other economic sectors.

Developing the salt industry by investing and supporting synchronous production, processing, preservation and consumption of salt; diversifying salt products with technological innovation, investing in upgrading salt field infrastructure to improve productivity, quality and efficiency, ensuring livelihoods, increasing income for people, aiming to get rich from salt production.

For industrial-scale salt production, the industrial salt production area reaches 4,805 hectares, with output reaching 640,000 tons/year.

For manual salt production (salt production by sand drying method and dispersed water drying method): Renovate and upgrade salt field infrastructure, especially salt field irrigation system; apply science and technology in salt production and processing, increase productivity by at least 20%, increase the value of salt products by at least 20% compared to present...

The artisanal salt production has invested in renovating and upgrading infrastructure, solidifying the salt field irrigation system for salt producers, and supporting the construction of processing models and diversifying salt products to increase added value in the following provinces and cities: Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau.

Regarding industrial salt, the Government has set a target of forming a key industrial-scale salt production area in the South Central provinces by 2030; applying science and technology, implementing mechanization in production, especially harvesting and washing salt after harvest, increasing salt production productivity by at least 30%, stabilizing salt quality, meeting the needs of industries...

Investing in upgrading infrastructure, solidifying the salt field irrigation system; forming key areas for producing crystallized salt on canvas in the Central, Southeast and Southwest provinces, increasing salt production productivity by at least 30%; applying science and technology in salt production; investing in industrial-scale salt production infrastructure to meet the needs of the chemical industry and raw materials for processing high-quality refined salt in the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan.