The Pangasinan Salt Center in Barangay Zaragosa, Bolinao town is set to supply 4,180 bags of 50-kilo agricultural grade salt fertilizer to the Ilocos, Cagayan and Central Luzon regions this year through the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Nestor Batalla told the Philippine News Agency in a phone interview on Monday that the provincial government-managed salt farm already received the notice of award from the PCA earlier in the day.

He said the salt produced by the farm met the requirement of the PCA, with its 55 percent salinity or sodium chloride content and 12 percent moisture content.

“Salt produced in Pangasinan is high in sodium chloride but it will still undergo analysis before the notice to proceed will be issued by PCA,” he added.

The provincial government has been in an interim management strategy for the improvement and development of the salt farm through a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in December 2022 to increase production.

Batalla said suppliers of agricultural grade salt fertilizers from Central Visayas and Davao regions are also purchasing from Pangasinan.

He said there is enough supply, noting that the center has produced about 6,000 metric tons or six million kilos since production started in November last year up to June this year.

“We are targeting areas within close proximity for the meantime as we still have to compute the transport and handling cost, but there is the possibility that we will supply the entire country with agricultural salt grade fertilizer through the PCA,” he said.

The Coconut Fertilization Project of the PCA intends to enhance coconut productivity by involving the rehabilitation of low-bearing palms through the application of Agricultural Grade Salt Fertilizer, the Pangasinan Provincial Information Office said.

Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico, in a statement issued earlier, said the establishment of the Pangasinan Salt Center was in support of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s “Philippine Salt Industry Development Act,” which aims to strengthen and revitalize the salt industry in the Philippines.

It is also a response to the President’s call to resolve the salt crisis in the country.

Amid the Philippines being an archipelago, 93 percent of the country’s salt requirement is being 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,” Guico said. (PNA)