House panel forms TWG on bill reviving PH salt industry

It also mandates the government to invest in the identification and construction of salt farms for lease to qualified salt farmers, whether individuals, cooperatives, or corporations. (Pixabay Photo)

MANILA – The House Committee on Agriculture and Food on Tuesday created a technical working group (TWG) to thresh out the concerns of various stakeholders on the proposal seeking to revive the country’s salt industry.

During the hearing, committee chair Mark Enverga said further discussions on House Bill 1976 are necessary to incorporate all the positions and comments of salt industry stakeholders.

The TWG shall be headed by KABAYAN party-list Rep. Ron Salo, author and sponsor of HB 1976.

In sponsoring the measure, Salo noted that the Philippines imported around 93 percent of the country’s salt requirement, despite having 36,000 kilometers of shoreline, the fifth longest shoreline in the world, which can be utilized for massive salt production.

“This bill is a product of numerous consultations with various stakeholders – salt farmers, salt producers, and even representatives from government agencies,” Salo said. “We have carefully studied and crafted this bill, bearing in mind first and foremost the needs of our local sea salt farmers.”

He said there are a number of factors that affected the country’s salt self-sufficiency, which included an outdated policy regime, low quality control and product improvement, limited development of new production areas, unattractive business environment for small enterprises and lack of new investments.

HB 1976 tasks the government to provide technical, physical and financial assistance to salt farmers, including artisanal salt farmers, to develop and improve their craft.

It also mandates the government to invest in the identification and construction of salt farms for lease to qualified salt farmers, whether individuals, cooperatives, or corporations.

Salo is optimistic that support from key stakeholders will further push the proposed measure.

Those who manifested their support for the measure are the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Cooperative Development Authority and the Department of Science and Technology.

Meanwhile, comments of the representatives from the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health centered on possible clash with the provisions RA 8172, otherwise known as the Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (ASIN Law).

“We shall endeavor to consider and resolve the concerns of the stakeholders in the TWG. If there are conflicting proposals, we will do our best to thresh them out and present them in the next hearing,” Salo said.

The panel would also consider House Bill 5676, authored by AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee, proposing to establish the Philippine Salt Industry Development Task Force tasked with crafting a 5-year roadmap for the development, modernization and protection of the salt industry.

The roadmap shall include programs, projects and interventions for the development and management, research, processing, utilization, business development, and commercialization of Philippine salt.

“This bill seeks to lessen our reliance on imports by providing our local salt stakeholders with ample support and protection so they can develop. We recognize that this is a long-term task, that is why we need a roadmap that will take us step by step through the years. But we have to start now,” Lee said.

A core feature of the bill is its recognition of salt as an aquatic resource, thereby integrating it as a core function of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

By extension, the salt industry would also benefit from all policies and programs relating to the protection and development of aquatic resources.

Another key feature of the bill is the promotion of alternative methods and techniques of salt farming that allow year-round production of salt even under erratic weather patterns.

This measure allocates PHP1 billion for the purpose of Research and Development especially on salt production technology in the first three years of implementation.