VietNamNet Bridge – A large-scale salt-making facility in the south-central coastal province of Ninh Thuan has left residents in the vicinity with almost no arable land and crops dying of saline intrusion.

Workers mine salt in Ninh Thuan Province. A salt facility has left residents with almost no arable land to cultivate. (Photo: VNS)

But the project, expected to revitalise the salt industry, has made vast swathes of land around it non-arable, driving local people into extreme difficulties with no land for cultivation.

Tran Quyet, deputy chairman of Phuoc Minh Commune People's Committee, said that the project had aimed to create jobs and improve lives of local residents in neighbouring areas.

But thousands of people had left their homes to earn a living elsewhere since they had no land to cultivate, he said, adding that every corner and garden in the commune had suffered from salt water intrusion.

He said since the salt making facility began operations, well water in the area had become salty and unusable, and the land close to salt fields had become unfertile. Trees in many gardens, for instance, stopped bearing fruit, Quyet said.

The saline intrusion had also led to a severe shortage of fresh water among livestock farmers.

Statistics from Phuoc Minh show that 5 per cent of the commune residents were poor in the 2004-07 period. This has risen to 15 per cent in 2010, and is expected to reach 18-19 per cent this year.

A preliminary survey by the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment has found that saline content of well water in Phuoc Minh is 24 to 30 times beyond the permitted level, and that in lakes and paddy fields, 12.5 to 34 times.

Quyet said provincial authorities were setting up a multisectoral team that would thoroughly study livelihood, environment, land reclamation and resettlement issues pertaining to the Quan The project.

An Van Khanh, deputy director of the agricultural ministry's Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production, said urgent action was needed to prevent environmental pollution and restructure the salt industry.

He said the ministry would finalise a draft decree on salt production and trade and submit it to the Government for approval this October.

The draft decree stipulates that industrial salt production covering more than 100ha of land should be properly designed with a seawater supply system, drainage channels, a protective dyke system for salt fields, warehouses and traffic grids.

The seawater supply and drainage network would have to prevent environmental pollution including the intrusion of salt water in surrounding areas, and work as a conduit to drain away floodwater during the rainy season, Khanh said.

The draft decree also dealt with support policies for salt makers, such as tax exemption and preferential loans, and the State would regulate supply and demand as well as import and export activities to stabilise the salt market, he added.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News