Damage of tens of billions of VND after only 2 days of rain
On February 26-27, unseasonal rain appeared in Ca Mau province with an average rainfall of 10–30mm per period, accompanied by strong winds. The rain time coincided with the peak salt production period, which seriously affected production activities and income of salt farmers.
On the afternoon of February 27, Mr. Vo Van Buu - Chairman of Dong Hai Commune People's Committee - said that this is an unseasonal rain that diễn biến bất thường, not according to the usual weather rules. "Rain occurred right when salt was crystallizing, in just a short time it dissolved all the salt on the field, people could not react in time," Mr. Buu said.
According to statistics, the total salt production area of Dong Hai commune is 775.7ha with 323 participating households, 100% of the area is damaged. The amount of salt dissolved and lost is estimated at 7,757 tons, the value of damage is about 9.3 billion VND. Dong Hai is also the locality with the largest salt area and output in the province in the 2025–2026 production season.
Not only Dong Hai, in Long Dien commune, unseasonal rain also caused serious damage. The whole commune has 452.27ha of salt production with 403 households, 100% of the area is affected. The total amount of salt damaged under the crystallized field is estimated at more than 1,350 tons, with a damage value of over 1.3 billion VND.
Faced with the above situation, local authorities are urgently summarizing data, reporting to superiors and proposing recommendations to the agricultural sector and functional sectors to soon have plans to support salt farmers to overcome damage and stabilize production.
Salt farmers at risk of salt crop failure
Sharing with reporters, Mr. Ho Minh Chien - Chairman of Dong Hai High-Tech Salt Production and Service Cooperative - said that prolonged rain for the past 2 days has caused 100% of salt fields of cooperative members to be deeply flooded, considered completely lost.
Salt production completely depends on the weather. When there is strong sunshine, there is salt, but when encountering unseasonal rain, the salt melts, it must be redone from the beginning. With heavy flooding like this time, after draining water, it is necessary to wait for continuous sunshine for about 20 days before harvesting can resume," Mr. Chien said.
According to Mr. Chien, this year's salt crop has unfavorable weather. With an area of nearly 80ha, including 25ha of tarpaulin salt, up to this point the cooperative has only harvested more than 300 tons, much lower than the previous crop. "Encountering unseasonal rain like this, if this crop achieves about 50% of last year's output, it would be lucky," Mr. Chien sadly said.
Ca Mau is a famous salt production region, the salt industry has been granted geographical indication protection and recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. However, the value of salt grains has not yet been raised to a corresponding level, while the salt industry is facing many difficulties in income, working conditions and the increasingly clear impact of extreme weather.
In the 2025–2026 salt crop, Ca Mau salt farmers produced nearly 1,600ha. Unfavorable weather, falling salt prices, plus unseasonal rain have made the risk of a salt crop failure present, directly affecting the livelihoods of salt farmers in the southernmost part of the country.
