Before the season has even ended, small salt farmers in Cox's Bazar have produced a record amount of salt this year: 23 lakh 31 thousand tonnes so far. Exceeding its target, the salt industry has left behind 64 years of history.

Md Jafar Iqbal Bhuiyan, deputy general manager of the salt industry development office of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), attributed the high output to the intense heat of the past two months.

Farmers say the price they got at the start of the season is no longer available. If fair prices are ensured, more farmers may take up salt farming in future, they say.

According to the BSCIC Cox's Bazar office, salt is being farmed this season on 68,300 acres in Teknaf, Cox's Bazar Sadar, Pekua, Moheshkhali, Eidgaon, Chakaria and Kutubdia in the district and Banshkhali in Chattogram. The national production target was set at 25 lakh 28 thousand tonnes, and a record 23 lakh 31 thousand tonnes has already been produced, surpassing all past records. Last year, the office's data put production at just over 22 lakh tonnes on 66,424 hectares.

There are 40,700 salt farmers this season, against 39,400 last year, an increase of 1,300.

Those involved believe favourable weather and fair prices last year led to more salt farming this year, and that farmers' security, a halt to salt imports and fair prices could bring even more in future.

Riduanul Haque, a salt farmer in Gomatali, Eidgaon, said there has been almost no rain since the season began, only intense sunshine, so salt output is higher. Despite the hardship, people in salt farming are delighted, he said.

Belal Ahmad, a salt farmer at Rastarpara in Khurushkul, said that although land leases, polythene and labour are expensive, farmers will escape losses because output is high. Prices were good at the start of the season but are now falling because of high production, and if this continues farmers will end up counting losses, he said.

Sajedul Karim, convener of the Bangladesh Salt Farmers Council, said farmers have produced a record amount this year. With imports halted for several years and fair prices ensured, farmers are working hard to raise output, and with production up again there will be no need to think of imports. "We hope farmers will get fair prices again this time to keep this self-sufficient industry alive," he said.

Hoping for better prices, many farmers are storing salt in the fields, but with high supply in the market prices may fluctuate somewhat, those involved say.

Md Idris Ali, a field inspector of the BSCIC salt development project, said this year's production has broken 64 years of records, and average daily output has also hit a record. Where the highest daily average used to be 36,000 tonnes, this year it has been 39,000 tonnes.

Md Jafar Iqbal Bhuiyan said the production target this season was 25 lakh 28 thousand tonnes. Farmers have left the fields in the past few days because of somewhat unfavourable weather, but a record 23 lakh 31 thousand tonnes has already been produced. If the weather holds or there is no rain, another two and a half to three lakh tonnes may be produced by the end of the season, he estimated.

He said good salt prices last season led farmers to farm more land this season. Last year production was just over 22 lakh tonnes on 66,424 acres, he said, while this season the area has grown to 68,300 acres. With record production, the government will not have to think about importing salt, and there is no plan to do so, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.