The government has taken several steps, including expanding low-interest loans, to ensure fair prices for salt farmers and support salt farming in Cox's Bazar and Chattogram, Industries Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir has said.

He gave the information in Parliament on Wednesday, 8 July, in reply to a written question from Mohammad Zahirul Islam, MP for Chattogram-16. Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, Bir Bikram, presided over the session.

The minister said that in the 2025-26 fiscal year a total of 40,150 salt farmers, 32,410 in Cox's Bazar and 7,740 in Chattogram, produced 19.45 lakh tonnes of salt on 67,757 acres.

A minimum field price for salt has been set after checking production costs, so that farmers get a fair price for their salt, he said.

The government is controlling salt imports by setting a ceiling on imports for industrial use. To stop sodium chloride being imported under the name of sodium sulphate or disodium sulphate, laboratory tests are required before customs clearance. The government is also reviewing the import duty on salt, and farmers are being trained regularly to improve the quality of domestic salt.

As a result, farmers are getting better prices than at the same time last year, he said. The average field price is now Tk 337 a maund, against Tk 271 a year earlier.

On financial support, the minister said the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) has launched a "Special Loan Programme for Salt Farmers" at 5 per cent simple interest without collateral.

So far Tk 3.25 crore has been disbursed to 677 salt farmers under the programme. In addition, genuine salt farmers are receiving loans at a concessional 4 per cent interest through scheduled banks under Bangladesh Bank's agricultural and rural credit policy, he told Parliament.

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