Unseasonably heavy rains on February 18th and 19th destroyed salt fields across Mon State, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of pounds of salt.
More than 60,000 pounds of salt were damaged by the rains, according to one salt farmer.
“Once you dig in a salt field, you get about 60,000 pounds, and the salt can be harvested. When it started to rain suddenly, it was all gone,” he said.
The farmer noted that salt production would be delayed this year and yields would be reduced.
February and March are the regular season for salt production.
A salt farmer in Thanbyuzayat said that all the salt fields were destroyed due to heavy rains and it would take about a month to repair them.
“All that was left was to harvest the salt, and when it rained, the whole field was destroyed. Even if it is repaired, we have to start from the beginning,” he said.
According to the Department of Salt Industry, there were 4,241.90 acres of licensed salt blocks registered in the monsoon season of 2021-2022, which would normally produce about 4250,010 tons of raw salt.
Salt production is concentrated in Ye, Thanbyuzayat and Paung townships.
