Threat of Harvest Failure a Blow to All

Kompas/Mohamad Final Daeng

Daeng Awing, 46, a salt farmer in Bangkala district, Jeneponto regency, South Sulawesi, is condensing salt deposits in his pond on Wednesday (2/8). Salt farmers in Jeneponto are eager to process salt this season due to the high salt price, reaching Rp 150,000 per 50-kilogram sack. It seemed to heal the agony of the salt farmers in Jeneponto last year when many pond faced harvest failures and the salt price hit the lowest point, namely Rp 15,000 per 50-kilogram sack.

“It’s not done yet, it\'s still water. Don’t know when we can harvest when it’s been raining all day,” said Mat Rai, 63, a salt farmer in Surabaya, answering the questions of prospective buyer from Jakarta on his cell phone.

The father of four then hung up and talked at length about the salt shortage. He said that there were people asking him about salt almost everyday.

“It’s been seven weeks; the [evaporation] pond is still filled with water. There are no signs of salt granules. I have given up hope. The longer the harvest season, the greater the operational cost,” said Mat Rai from Sumenep, Madura, East Java.

Mat Rai spends Rp 400,000 a week on salt production and he has spent almost Rp 3 million of his own money. However, his salt pond in Pakal, Benowo, Surabaya, East Java, Sunday (30/7), has not produced salt crystals.

As a matter of fact, in the case of Masrawi, 39, a salt producer in Benowo, his six evaporation ponds of a total 3 hectares, which should have been harvested two weeks ago, has suffered a harvest failure. “The seawater still tastes plain. None of the ponds are ready for crystallization,” said the farmer, also from Sumenep.

According to Masrawi, salt farmers generally used traditional means to produce salt, relying on the heat of the sun. The time it takes from when the seawater is channeled into the pond to when salt is harvested is 35 days. That period consists of 30 days for the brine to become concentrated and reach 25 degrees Baume (Be). The remaining five days constitutes the crystallization process before the sale is harvested.However, because of rain, the salt ponds have failed to produce salt crystals.

Masrawi, who has been a salt farmer for 20 years, moved to Surabaya to earn a handsome income through a profit-sharing system. “The profit is shared with the landowner. The ratio is 1:3; I get one part, the owner gets three,” he said.

Last year, he made earnings from 6 tons of salt from a total of 18 tons. The result was Rp 8 million for six months of work.

But seven weeks have passed and the father of two has not made any money because there has not been any harvest. He has been forced to borrow Rp 3.5 million for his daily needs in Surabaya and pay his children’s education costs. One of his children is in the second semester at Wirajaya Sumenep University, while the other is in the fifth grade.

Maintaining life

Fishermen in Jambi were also anxious. Lately, their days have been filled with uncertainty. Every time a staple foods agent comes to the dock, Nazmin, 65, quickly approaches with a feeling of both worry and hope. He is worried that the agent may yet again arrive without any salt.

Salt is the commodity most awaited by Nazmin and other small business players in the sea village in Kuala Tungkal district, Tanjung Jabung Timur regency, Jambi. However, the salt has still not arrived. “It has been two weeks without any supply of salt. There is no certainty as to when the condition will return to normal,” Nazmin said.

Without salt, the local fishermen’s catches cannot be processed into salted fish. Nazmin usually produces 100 kilograms of salted fish daily. For that amount, he needs at least 25 kg of salt per day to preserve the fish.

Furthermore, with the salted fish production of the Kuala Jambi sea village reaching 1 ton a day, the people of the area need at least 250 kg of salt so that the fishermen’s families can continue to be productive.

This uncertainty has prompted the fishermen to gather. They discussed and agreed that the salted fish business, which has been their sole source of livelihood for years, must be saved. One way of doing this is by ordering edible salt from Jambi.

The salt will then be distributed evenly to all salted fish makers. Even though edible salt is 20 percent more expensive than the industrial salt they usually use, they are resigned to use it as long as they can continue to carry out their activities.

Another agreement the fishermen reached was that the price of fresh fish would be lowered temporarily by 25 percent to reduce the burden on salted fish makers. The price of gulama fish, which is the used to make salted fish, has been reduced from Rp 4,000 per kg to Rp 2,500-Rp 3,500 per kg.

Edy, owner of the salted fish business Harapan Sejahtera, coordinates ordering the salt from Jambi. The price of the salt they purchased is Rp 57,000 per 10 kg sack.

According to Edy, the price of edible salt is higher and its salt content is lower than industrial salt; therefore, salted fish makers would need more edible salt to produce well-preserved salted fish that has the usual level of saltiness. “If not enough salt is used, the fish will not last long,” he said.

The head of fisheries product development at Tanjung Jabung Timur’s Maritime and Fisheries Agency, Slamet, said that the scarcity and high price of salt have had a wide impact. The production volume of some salted fish makers has declined.

Those that survive have generally done so by replacing non-iodized industrial salt with iodized salt, which is more expensive. The lower fish price has also helped them to survive. This was the best solution for now, given the current condition.