Salt farmers in Arakan State seek government subsidies to keep businesses afloat

By DMG 19 Mar 2022

DMG Newsroom
19 March 2022, Sittwe

Local salt farmers in Arakan State say they need government-subsidised loans and other assistance to continue their business and improve salt quality.

The chairman of the Arakan State Salt Farmers Association, U Than Win, said local salt farmers need financial assistance from the government to invest in inputs necessary for the production of high-quality salt, and to stabilise salt prices.

“Access to loans is crucial for salt farmers,” U Than Win told DMG, citing necessary capital expenditures for warehouses to store their product when fluctuating market prices are unfavourable.

“And they have to pay labour costs. And they have to stockpile diesel so that the production costs do not increase when diesel prices jump. To do all those things, they must have access to loans,” he added.

There are also other material costs. Imported from Bangladesh, a special plastic sheet that is used to dry salt costs more than K100,000, said U Than Win.

“We have to use plastic sheets to dry up the salt so that it does not contain impurities like mud. So, salt farmers are asking for government loans to buy plastic sheets. Low-quality raw materials only produce low-quality finished products. Plastic sheets are necessary to ensure the quality of output,” he explained.

While production costs are increasing, salt prices are declining, and salt farmers need subsidies to produce high-quality salt, said a salt farmer from Gangar village in Kyaukphyu Township.

U Tin Hlaing from Gangar village, who has been engaged in the salt farming business for more than two decades, said: “We salt farmers have asked the state government to provide loans. But it has not yet provided any assistance. If it provides us with loans, we won’t need to sell to buyers who offer very low prices for our product. If we have money, we won’t sell our products for low prices.”

The Arakan State Salt Farmers Association submitted a futile request to the state’s military government in January, seeking the provision of loans to local salt farmers, according to U Than Myint, head of the salt section of the Arakan State Mining Department.

“I repeatedly tried with the Arakan State Salt Farmers Association to get loans for salt farmers. The state government replied that they have no surplus budget to provide loans to any organisation,” he said.

The state military council offers to provide bank loans, which are not suited to salt farmers’ needs, said U Than Myint.

“Salt famers don’t need K10 million or K20 million. They only need K1 million or K2 million at most. Salt farmers only have their businesses in rural areas, and they don’t live in urban areas. So, it is difficult to provide guarantees for them,” he added.

There are only about 70 salt farmers in Arakan State. They say they received financial assistance under President U Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government (2011-2016), but have not had any assistance since the time of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government.