Did you know? Despite being surrounded by salt water, the Philippines imports 93% of its salt requirements because of a “dead local salt industry,” according to the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc.
But our overdependence on imported salt may change thanks to the government’s renewed interest in scaling up local salt production. One notable example is the recent turnover of a salt harvester machine, along with salt washer technologies, at a processing plant in Occidental Mindoro.
The salt harvester machine was locally developed by JALD Industries Corporation in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), with funding coming from the latter’s Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy initiative.
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Without machineries, manual salt production during salt-making season could take several months. The salt harvester reduces the production time to only two weeks. According to the DOST, the machine is “designed to mechanize the process of crushing, washing, and harvesting salt in deep crystallizer saltern.”
The government agency believes the adoption of the salt harvester by other salt processing facilities in the country could boost not only the local salt industry but also the local fabrication industry.