Salt pans in distress

Chef Koushik S. advises using salt from a height while cooking to ensure even distribution and enhance the taste of dishes. As of 2021-22, Tamil Nadu produced 23.93 lakh tonnes of sea salt on land owned by the Central and State governments and private owners. The right combination of sun and seawater produces the best quality salt. However, unseasonal rain and heavy downpours during monsoons have wreaked havoc on the salt industry, with manufacturers limiting their reach to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. The unseasonal rain has severely affected the livelihoods of salt pan workers, who are physically fit for other work. Workers unions urge the government to consider salt cultivation as an agricultural practice and extend subsidies for salt production.

The reduction in salt production in Tamil Nadu has been attributed to factors such as the Central government’s decision not to renew leases and disbanding the Union Salt Department. Small manufacturers have left the industry, and the total production from Central government-owned land in the country fell from 7% to 4.95%. The government’s acreage under salt production in the State also decreased from 16,688 acres to 14,017 acres, and production dipped from 9.90 lakh tonnes to 7.82 lakh tonnes. The state government is willing to take over the land for which leases have expired, aiming to protect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of small producers and laborers across the salt-producing states.