Untimely rain destroys salt farms in Mon State

Published 14 March 2023

MON------ Salt fields already have been destroyed due to the untimely rains poured down in Thanbyuzayat and Paung Townships in Mon State, yesterday night, according to the salt farmers.

“It was raining yesterday night. All salts in the salt fields were destroyed. Although some people removed the salts from the fields, some faced losses due to the untimely rain. If 100,000 viss of salt will be destroyed, a salt farmer can lose about 15 million kyats because the current price of salt is Ks 150 per viss,” said one of the salt famers.

At present, if the weather will be sunny about 20 days, the salt makers can take the salts from the fields. The salt production will be reduced due to the mixture of salt and rainwater. Normally, the salt maker can produce about 100,000 viss of salt. Now, they can produce around 40,000 viss of salt, says the salt farmer.

Similarly, the salt fields situated in the Htanpinchaung Gyi village in Paung Township, Mon State also were damaged due to untimely rain.

“The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology reported that there would be rain in coming two days. So, we removed the salts from the fields. However, the remaining salts in the fields were destroyed. We are going to dry the salts again but we will monitor the weather condition. Surely, there will be late for salt production,” said one of the salt farmers.

Likewise, untimely rains destroyed the salt farms in the Ya Township, Mon State. Mon State’s sun-dried salt businesses, which have suffered losses as a result of the disastrous rains, were finding it difficult to produce sun-dried salt due to the untimely rains occurred in November of 2022.

The salt traders said that the price of raw salt will increase because the salt production reduced due to the climate condition.

There are about 2,900 acres of salt fields in Panga village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State and the village can produce about 30 million viss of salts yearly.

Mon State holds second place for salt production. The Irrawaddy Division is the largest salt producer in the country.