Salt farmers have a bad salt harvest.

(Baonghean) - The main salt production season in Quynh Luu district is about to end. However, since the beginning of the year, the weather has been complicated, with frequent unseasonal showers, especially during the main salt season, causing the water level in the salt ponds and drying yards to stagnate, making salt farmers face many difficulties in production, leading to a sharp decrease in productivity and salt output in localities, failing to meet the plan set at the beginning of the year.

An Hoa salt farmers actively bail rainwater out of the pond.

Ho Thi Lan's family is one of the households with a large salt-making area in Hong Phong village, An Hoa commune, Quynh Luu district, with nearly 200 square meters of salt ponds. The heavy rains that have appeared frequently in recent times have not only greatly affected her family's production, but also caused a significant loss of salt stored in the warehouse. Although the rains have always been at night and in the late afternoon, and there has been sunshine during the day, for more than a month now, her family has only been able to participate in production for about 7-8 days, because the heavy rain has reduced the salinity and the color has been lost. Lan said: This year, when the weather is favorable, the sun is strong and steady, her family can make 150 kg of salt every day, but because the price of salt is low, the income is only about 200,000 VND/4 workers. Currently, taking advantage of the dry weather, like other salt farmers in the village, her family is actively draining water from the salt ponds, so that when the sun comes up, they can start production in time. Ms. Lan added: “All the family’s expenses and living expenses depend on the money from selling salt, but this year the salt crop has failed and the price has dropped, so life is difficult. This July, we have only been able to work two afternoons, the salt produced is not significant, and the rainy season is coming, we don’t know where to look to cover expenses.”

An Hoa, Quynh Luu district is the largest salt granary in the province with an area of ​​over 160 hectares. Of which, 20 hectares are reclaimed by households for production and 140 hectares are divided according to Decree 64 of the Government to enjoy support policies from the State. The commune's annual salt output is about 20,000 tons with a value of nearly 20 billion VND. The whole commune has 7 villages with over 1,400 households specializing in salt production. Entering the main salt production season this year, the locality has focused on directing salt farmers to actively repair and renovate masonry, build filter trays according to the support program of the Provincial People's Committee to increase productivity and salt output. Up to now, the whole commune has built over 1,000 sets of improved filter trays, this year the commune strives to build 600 more sets.

In addition, An Hoa commune also deployed the construction of 10 hectares of clean salt in Tan Thinh Cooperative with the support of Vietnam Salt Corporation and expanded the area of ​​salt spread on crystallization plots. However, in the 3 main crop months including May, June and July of this year, unseasonal rains appeared frequently, flooding the sand drying yard, so the salt output of An Hoa commune was low. Although it has entered the final stage of the crop, the whole commune has only produced 9,500 tons, reaching 50% of the yearly plan. In addition, prices often fluctuate and are lower than the same period in 2013, causing many difficulties for salt farmers. Mr. Le Van Quyet - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Hoa Commune, Quynh Luu District said: "Every year, up to this point, the output has reached 70% of the plan. This year, it is already mid-July but the salt output is very low, if August and September are sunny, the output will be achieved according to the plan. Currently, the Party Committee and the government are focusing on directing people to take advantage of the sunny days and really stick to the sun to produce to achieve the set output of 19,000 - 19,500 tons/year."

In Quynh Thuan, at this time, only 7,000 tons of salt have been produced on an area of ​​120 hectares of salt production, reaching 48% of the plan. The main reason is due to unfavorable weather and limited application of improved filtration. In the whole commune, only 30% of households have applied the improved filtration model. Meanwhile, the State has a policy of supporting 1 million VND per filter tray to reduce labor for salt farmers, but due to the fear of change, they prefer to follow the traditional form from the past until now. Although the commune cadres have actively promoted and mobilized, the majority of households are still not very interested in applying this model. Discussing further on this issue, Mr. Tran Ngoc Binh - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Thuan Commune, Quynh Luu District said: "Although people are not very interested in improved filters, the commune is currently actively propagating and mobilizing to change conservative thinking, following old habits (using a lot of labor and using wheelbarrows for transportation) to switch to building improved filters to reduce labor for people."

To improve this situation, the authorities and sectors of Quynh Luu district are currently directing localities to actively build irrigation traffic, dredge irrigation canals, and ensure a quick drainage system so that when the weather is sunny, people can produce promptly. In particular, the rainy and stormy season is approaching, to minimize property damage caused by storms, Quynh Luu district is also actively directing households to closely monitor the weather to continue production. At the same time, people need to be proactive, upgrade, and build more solid salt storage facilities to avoid damage to the amount of salt stored as in the heavy rains at the end of the 2013 salt crop.

Red Face

(Quynh Luu Radio)