Cong Toff pushes for more salt farms in Pangasinan
FISHERMEN in Pangasinan are urged to go into salt-making as an alternative income source and help the province and the country attain salt sufficiency in a few years.
The call was made by 4th District Rep. Christopher de Venecia, one of the authors of the Salt Industry Law, when he distributed over 1.4 million tilapia and bangus fingerlings as well as fishing implements and a fiber glass banca to some 60 fishermen from Mangaldan, San Fabian, San Jacinto and Manaoag as part of his birthday celebration.
Noting that only San Fabian and Mangaldan are currently producing salt in the district, he said there is room for expansion in more coastal towns. He cited Dasol and Infanta where large tracts of lands were turned into salt farms during summer and fishponds during the rainy season.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources provides free training on simple salt-making technique.
The Salt Industry Law, which took effect in March this year, seeks to step up the production of salt throughout the country to end dependence on salt imports.
He recalled that salt became scarce in the country following the Asin Law passed in the early 1990s under the administration of the late President Fidel V. Ramos, which mandated that only iodized salt must be sold in the market in response to the then increased incidence of iodine deficiency disorder among the country’s population.
The regulation prompted a pivot to salt importation, which in turn significantly diminished local production.
The new law aims to revitalize the salt industry by encouraging local farmers through full government support in technology for production to marketing.
De Venecia cited San Fabian as a prototype where salt-makers have already been able to penetrate the Metro Manila market with their flavored salt products in innovative packaging. (Leonardo Micua)
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