Persistently clinging to salt fields under the scorching heat
On June 3, under the scorching sun but on the salt fields in Yen Tho residential group, Tran Phu ward (formerly Ho Do commune), salt farmers - including the elderly - are taking advantage of production.
Ms. Le Thi Huong (77 years old, residing in Yen Tho residential group) and her 78-year-old husband are drying soil and watering to produce 2 sao of salt soil (1 sao = 500m2).
Ms. Huong said that she and her husband are old and cannot do other jobs, so they stick to salt making to earn income, spend, and cover living expenses.
According to Ms. Huong, each day she and her husband produce more than 1 quintal of salt, selling for nearly 400,000 VND.
According to Ms. Huong, her family has 5 children but no one follows the salt making profession but mainly goes to work abroad and works as a construction worker and mechanic to have a higher income.
Producing salt next to Ms. Huong's household, Mr. Truong Quang Nien (64 years old) said that his family is producing salt on an area of 2 sao. Every day, he and his wife, Ms. Phan Thi Thuong (62 years old), work hard to harvest more than 2 quintals of salt. With a selling price of 350,000 VND/quintal, he and his wife also earn from 700,000 - 800,000 VND/day.
According to Mr. Nien, compared to 2025, salt prices have increased, so they provide better income.
Currently, the number of salt-making households is very small, so there is no need to worry about consumption. My family produces as much as people come to buy," Mr. Nien shared.
Young people look for other jobs with better income
According to Mr. Truong Quang Nien, in the salt field of Yen Tho residential group, there are currently 3 households producing salt with an area of only 1.5 sao - 2 sao per household. While dozens of hectares of salt land have been abandoned for many years.
Also according to Mr. Nien, now very few people still keep the salt making profession. Those who are doing the profession are mainly the elderly, because they no longer have the health to do other jobs such as building and being a construction worker.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dieu - Chairman of Tran Phu Ward People's Committee said that currently in the ward there are only 3-5 households still engaged in salt making. The area of salt land is still very large but mainly abandoned because people are no longer interested in the profession.
According to the investigation of Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, in recent years, due to low efficiency of salt production, many localities in Ha Tinh have abandoned hundreds of hectares of salt production land. In which, in Ho Do old commune (now Tran Phu ward) nearly 120 hectares were abandoned, Dinh Ban commune (old), now Thach Khe commune was 45 hectares abandoned, Ky Ha commune (old) now Hai Ninh ward was nearly 60 hectares abandoned.
The reason is that salt production is hard, unfavorable weather, many rains and storms make it difficult to produce, mainly only producing for 3 summer months, so they look for other jobs with higher and more stable incomes.
