To revitalize the salt industry in Ilocos Norte and to add more value to the natural sea salt, a gourmet salt processing and analysis center was formally opened in Burgos town on Tuesday.
For the initiative, local makers belonging to the Mariposa Salt Producers Association were trained to process at least five flavored salts: native garlic, black garlic, native garlic-onion, native onion, and gamet seaweed.
“This is a big help for us and we are so grateful to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for assisting us since the start and until now. Your focus and determination to help us is deeply appreciated,” Larry Baniaga, Mariposa’s president, said during the blessing, inauguration and turnover of the center.
Native onion gourmet salt is priced at PHP120 per bottle, native garlic at PHP130, native garlic-onion at PHP140, black garlic at PHP280, and gamet seaweed at PHP220.
Traditional salt, meanwhile, is sold at PHP35 to PHP40 per kilo.
With at least six trained personnel to man the operation, DOST Regional Director Teresita Tabaog said in a media interview that the center would serve as a model for salt innovation in other regions.
“It started with product development and there are a lot of agencies who want to help like the Department of Trade and Industry, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Mariano Marcos State University, and many others,” she said.
“So with the technologies that we gave, they were able to increase the volume of salt production by 20 percent and then we came up with value-adding products to further increase their income,” Tabaog added.
The official expressed hope that Mariposa, with its 38 members, would be able to sustain the project by enabling its members to upgrade their skills to become more competitive in the market.
To help modernize the salt industry and link them with institutionalized buyers, the salt makers of Burgos have committed to produce more quality salt to be able to meet the demand.
On average, the Burgos salt makers are producing about one ton of salt per season. It is expected to increase with technology innovation and the intervention of various government agencies linked to the One Accelerating Salt Innovations (OneASIN) project initiated by the DOST.
With the ongoing massive planting of coconut seedlings nationwide that is projected to yield billions of additional nuts annually by 2034, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said this would result in an increased demand for salt. The use of common salt as fertilizer is a practical means of increasing coconut production, according to experts.
In a separate interview, Burgos mayor Cresente Garcia said the local government unit will help sustain the operation of the center by deploying at least two personnel from the municipal government and by shouldering the honorarium of at least six Mariposa members who will be assigned to the facility. (PNA)
