The Hard Work of Salt Making: Part I - Salt... is Bitter!

To get the salty salt, salt farmers have to go through a lot of hardship and suffering. However, for generations, the fate of salt has been miserable. Salt prices are too low, salt farmers are struggling in the cycle of price storms.

The salt village in Dien Van - Dien Chau used to be called Van Phan with a famous fish sauce making profession throughout the region. At that time, the village fields were swampy with sedges and reeds, and were home to snakes, centipedes, and storks. Each village was like a deserted island, because it was surrounded by rivers and streams on all sides. During the flood season, the water flooded the entire village, and many houses were washed away. However, since the State invested in building a dike, which became a shield against storms, winds, and high tides, embracing the hamlets and villages, the Party Committee and the government of Dien Van commune have found a way to help save people from poverty. That is to mobilize all the strength of the people, along with the support of the State, reclaim and restore the swampy fields, turning them into the salt fields of Van Nam, Van Tai... today.

Salt making is a hard job, only suitable for men and young men. However, in Dien Van, the hard work is still placed on the thin shoulders of women, children and the elderly. Because they feel sorry for their children who work hard in the salt making industry, Mr. Vi and Mrs. Hien, despite their old age and weak health, still try their best to make salt. In Dien Van, there are still many old men and women in their seventies, "near the earth, far from the sky" but still go to the salt fields to help their grandchildren.

Under the sweltering heat of the Van Nam salt field, Ms. Le Thi Hoa, her shirt stained with salt, was drenched in sweat, saying: "It's not raining today, if we collect a few quintals of salt, we'll have rice tomorrow!" Ms. Hoa said: The salt industry is full of hardships that not everyone knows. When the sun is hot, people rest, but I carry my tools to the salt fields, working hard until dark before returning home. Dien Van's salt making method is still traditional. When the tide rises, the sea water is manual. Salt workers have to go to the salt fields before the rooster crows in the middle of the hot summer noon, the temperature reaches 35-40 degrees Celsius, the Lao wind blows, but the salt workers still have to go to the fields. In the afternoon, the whole salt field is bustling with laughter, and there are many wheelbarrows carrying salt back to the warehouse.

In the crimson sunset, on the other side of the salt field, Ms. Phan Thi Hao, her emaciated and pale figure, was staggering as she pushed sand. Wiping the sweat from her face, she said softly: "After collecting the salt and storing it in the warehouse, I'll take the opportunity to prepare to push the sand. I'll work until the moon rises before I return, brother." For the past few years, Ms. Hao has been constantly ill, leaving her emaciated, weighing only 32 kg, but she still pushes tons of sand, nearly three times her body weight.

To invest in the pond, according to Ms. Hao, because it is more than 2 km away from the coast, Dien Van salt farmers have to go to Dien Kim commune to buy each ox cart with sand at the price of 100,000 VND/1 m3 of sand. Right from the beginning of the season, they have to spend nearly 3 million VND to renovate the pond, but calculating the cost of each day of hard work, people earn from 80,000 VND to 100,000 VND. However, the salt making time is only 4-5 months each year. During the remaining idle months when there is no work, people have to work for hire, dig ponds for hire, and carry bricks and tiles.

Late afternoon. Dark clouds were gathering, I could still see the silhouettes of salt workers staggering to push their wheelbarrows "running from the rain" on the salt fields in Van Nam - the "salt-killing" afternoon rains.

Van Truong - Phu Huong