This season has seen the highest salt production in Bangladesh in the last 62 years.
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) said in a press release on Wednesday that the total production of salt in the current season has stood at 1,839,000 tons. If the weather is favourable, it will be possible to produce more than two million tons of salt.
Last year, the highest record of salt production was 1,832,000 tons.
The BSCIC said a total of 10,930 tons of salt was produced in a day on Tuesday.
The total cultivated land in the current salt season is 66,424 acres, which was 63,291 acres last year. Compared to last year, this year salt farming land has increased by 3,133 acres.
In the current salt season, the number of salt farmers is 39,467, which was 37,231 last year. Compared to last year, the number of salt farmers has increased by 2,236 people.
BSCIC said that since 1961, salt production started in a planned manner in the country through BCIC.
At present, all the upazilas of Cox's Bazar district and Chittagong's Banshkhali are being provided with training, credit and technology extension to farmers for salt cultivation through 12 salt centres under the jurisdiction of BCIC's salt industry development program office located in Cox's Bazar.
With the aim of achieving self-sufficiency by producing salt in the country without importing it, salt farmers are brought to the field a month before the current salt season. The first production of the last salt season started on November 30.
The current salt season production started on October 24, 2022. Short term (1 year), medium term (1-5 years) and long term (above 5 years) action plans have been adopted to achieve self-sufficiency in salt production.
Encouraging and training salt cultivators in advanced salt cultivation in modern methods as per time-bound action plan, identification and expansion of new areas for salt cultivation, loans to salt farmers on easy terms, increasing salt yield per acre, allotment to actual salt cultivators, determining the lease value of salt farming land, conservation of salt farming land, demonstration of modern methods of salt production and providing technical assistance in quality control of produced salt, conducting surveys, electricity connection and salt production in salt farming areas, and regular monitoring activities are being conducted to control stock and price.