The Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources launched Friday the Development of Salt Industry Project in Dasol, Pangasinan to address the challenges and gaps in the country’s salt industry.
Dubbed as Oplan Asin, BFAR started to mobilize the project in 2022 in collaboration with the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute. It aims to increase local production of excellent quality salt through the enhancement of processes and improvement of practices on salt production, while balancing the requirement for food safety standards and industrial uses.
“With Oplan Asin, we will prioritize intervention to our existing salt producers and revive the inactive ones by helping them comply with the market requirements. This is in our bid to ensure sustainable salt production and livelihood of our salt farmers, and ultimately, attain national salt self-sufficiency,” said BFAR director Demosthenes Escoto.
The project has successfully implemented increase in production capacities in select major salt-producing regions in Regions 1, 6, and 9, through an initial funding of P100 million.
Using the fund, BFAR provided fishery on-farm equipment and post-harvest facilities, upgraded storage units and warehouse facilities, training and capacity building workshops and technology demonstrations among the participating regions.
The interventions will be carried over to 2023 with an expanded scope through the allotment and downloading of another P100 million to 7 BFAR regional offices in Regions 1, 3, 4A, 4B,6, 7 and 9.
The DA and BFAR met with Dasol salt farmers in a. Pre-event consultation to identify the needs of the industry such as market linkages, more on-farm and post-harvest equipment, social security of salt farmers, among others, and gather inputs and suggestions for the amendment of Republic Act 8172 or the ASIN Law which was passed in 1995.
