The Pangasinan Salt Center at Barangay Zaragosa, Bolinao produced 7,500 metric tons (MT) of salt from December 2024 to May this year, marking a 17.18-percent increase from the 6,400 MT produced in the previous season.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Nestor Batalla attributed the increase in harvested salt primarily to the favorable weather conditions in the province during the period.

“Despite a shorter number of days at 140 days this season, compared to last season’s 160 days, it is hotter this year, hence the greater amount of produced salt,” he said.

Currently, Batalla said they are finalizing a deal for the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to purchase 30,000 bags, or 1.5 million kilograms, of agricultural-grade salt this year for use as fertilizer.

Priced at PHP750 to PHP800 per bag, the PCA’s coconut fertilization project aims to boost coconut productivity by rehabilitating low-bearing palms.

“There are also walk-ins who buy the salt directly at the salt farm; they go to us,” Batalla said, adding that the provincial government is set to implement projects specifically aimed at further boosting salt production in the area this year.

Moreover, Batalla said they have already established a storage area in the center and secured the road networks.

In a recent statement, Governor Ramon Guico reaffirmed that the establishment of the Pangasinan Salt Center supports President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s “Philippine Salt Industry Development Act,” which aims to strengthen and revitalize the country’s salt industry. It is also a direct response to the President’s call to resolve the nation’s salt crisis.

Guico said about 93 percent of the country’s salt requirement is currently imported from China and Australia.

“We need to drastically reduce our dependency on imported salt and produce 100 percent of our consumption needs. We must even think of becoming a net exporter of salt in the future,” he said. (PNA)