Record salt production, yet marginal farmers see little reward

Abdul Malek, a local salt farmer from the Choufaldandi Union of Cox's Bazar Sadar, stares at the expanse of salt fields before him.

This was to be a year of glad tidings.

Salt cultivation hit a record high in Cox's Bazar with 36,000 lakh metric tons being produced daily, according to the Bangladesh Small Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC). Usually, around 12,000-14,000 metric tons were produced but this shot to over 30,000 tons owing to the heat wave. 

But Malek, like other marginal salt farmers, feels hard done by owing to a nexus of middlemen in almost all stages of production.

"There is no way to sell salt directly to the mill owner except for going through the middlemen," said Abdul Malek.

"Mill owners buy salt at Tk500 per maund. But we only get Tk400. This means the middlemen keep Tk100 per maund," he added.

Abdul Ghafoor, another local farmer who has been working in salt production for the last 40 years, said land has to be leased under a one-year contract for production. But they do not get the opportunity to lease the land directly from the original land owners.

A group of middlemen secretly leases the land from the land owners, he alleged.

Then the farmers have to again pay a steeper price.

He said farmers have to pay Tk35,000-50,000 per acre of land when they take the lease from middlemen. Whereas, the cost would have been much lower, around Tk25,000-30,000 per acre, if they could have acquired the land directly from the owners.

"After acquiring the land, we have to buy polythene for the field, that too from the middlemen. Polythene is sold at Tk120 per kg in the market, but we buy at Tk150 per kg from middlemen," Ghafoor added.

He further alleged, "Not only the Choufaldandi Union, but all the salt fields in Cox's Bazar, including Maheshkhali, Kutubdia, Pekua, Chakria, Eidgaon are controlled by an organised broker syndicate."

President of Cox's Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abu Morshed Chowdhury Khoka said, "A vested group seems to be causing marginal farmers various kinds of sufferings. Sometimes it involves land lease, buying polythene or salt sales. If we can put an end to this, marginal farmers will benefit more if they can directly buy land, polythene and sell salt on their own."

Deputy General Manager of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Cox's Bazar Zafar Iqbal Bhuiyan said the middlemen have been active in salt production for a long time.

"Among them, 600 people have been identified and listed. The matter has been reported and action will be taken against them. The farmers will benefit greatly if the issue can be resolved," he said.

Salt production has exceeded by more than 18 lakh metric tons against the demand of 23.85 lakh metric tons of salt in the current season till Thursday (20 April), as per data from the BSCIC.

Previously, it took weeks to produce salt through the process of bringing water from the sea to the field. Now, farmers are getting that salt in just three days as salt is starting to flow quicker amid the intense heat wave.

Salt is being produced in more than 66, 291 acres of fields in Cox's Bazar, with around 45,000 farmers involved in the works.