The country's salt farmers are going through hard times. Although the prices of all salt-making inputs have risen, salt fetches no price at field level, and about five million people directly or indirectly involved in salt farming are in trouble. Farmers want urgent government attention to restore favourable conditions.

The fields of Chowfaldandi village in Cox's Bazar Sadar are among the country's main salt-producing areas, where salt is made by storing seawater. Making salt from natural materials may look cheap and easy, but it is not. From leasing land to marketing, producing salt costs 72,000 taka per kani by the traditional method and 80,000 taka by the modern polythene method. This year salt is selling for 66,000 taka per kani, leaving salt farmers bewildered.

The poor state of the salt industry, which holds an important place in the economy, came up at the pre-budget "Agriculture Budget, Farmers' Budget" discussion in Cox's Bazar on 20 March. Those affected complain that no effective government step has yet been taken, and they hope for greater government attention to protect the industry.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.