Interagency brainstorming to revitalize salt industry underway

MANILA  -The Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) convened government agencies and industry stakeholders in Antique to address the continuous decline in local salt production.

In a statement, PCAF said the meeting was meant to solicit policy recommendations and foster collaboration among government agencies, research institutions and industry stakeholders.

The same gathering pushed for the immediate passage of the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, an amendment of An Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (Asin) Law and the creation of the Philippine Salt Industry Development Road Map.

PCAF, the Department of Agriculture’s policymaking arm that facilitates broad-based participatory processes in the sector, said they also recommended carrying out a collaborative inter-agency approach in the formulation and implementation of the Salt Industry Development Action Plan and the National Iodization Plan.

House Bill No. 8278, or the proposed Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, aims to revitalize the country’s salt industry by formulating and adopting policy directions as well as strategic plans to bolster local production. This calls for crafting short, medium and long-term industry road map to revive the salt industry and pursue effective export strategies to make the sector competitive.

Import dependence

The Philippines remains a net importer of salt, sourcing 93 percent of local salt requirements abroad despite having 36,000 kilometers of shoreline.

Based on the draft House bill, salt imports totaled $303 million between 2009 and 2020, mostly coming from Australia while the country only exported $1.3 million during the same period.

Early in March, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources formally unveiled the Development of Salt Industry Project in Pangasinan to beef up local salt output.

With an initial funding of P100 million, the initiative will focus on enhancing processes and improving practices for producing salt while balancing the requirement for food safety standards and industrial uses.

Various production-related and research and development activities were put in place in selected major salt-producing regions—Ilocos Region, Western Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula.