Did you know that the province of Pangasinan derived its name from salt or “asin” in the vernacular?
 
Pangasinan or PanagASINan literally means “where salt is made” owing to the rich and fine salt beds or “baingan” which were the source of livelihood for the province’s coastal towns sans fishing.
 
Soon, this province will be able to respond to the call of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to contribute to national food security and to address the crisis in salt as it took over the management of a salt farm, which used to be the country’s largest salt producer.
 
In a statement, the Provincial Information Office said that after more than two years, the 473-hectare salt farm in Barangay Zaragoza in Bolinao town, previously operated by Pacific Farms, Inc., will finally start producing salt again.
 
The salt farm contributes up to 25,000 metric tons (MT) a year to the country’s total salt production.
 
It was shut down in February 2021 after its foreshore lease contract expired in 2002 and was not renewed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
 
Nestor Batalla, assistant provincial agriculturist, said “By July this year, we will start our preliminary activities in the farm so that by October, we will already start harvesting salt.”
 
Last December, Governor Ramon Guico III signed a memorandum of agreement with the DENR for the interim management of the area for salt production and other related activities, such as milkfish production.
 
Governor Guico’s special assistant and former Board Member Von Mark Mendoza said that the provincial government will be introducing innovations to increase the volume of  salt produced at the Zaragoza farm.
 
For instance, plastic-roofed tunnels will be built over the salt beds to enable them to continue producing salt even when it is raining.
 
Mendoza learned of this salt production technology during a recent benchmarking visit to Indonesia, where the tunnel system in salt farms is widely used.
 
He said that the tunnel system increased salt production by up to about 30 percent.
 
He also said that instead of installing tiles on the salt beds, high-density polyethelene will be used for higher yield and to produce better quality salt.
 
“One thing unique in Indonesia is that they have a salt production area that is state-owned. But through the initiative of the Governor, the provincial government itself is now venturing into salt production,” Mendoza said.
 
 “With Divine intervention and our salt production will succeed, we can become trailblazer, we will be the leading local government unit in the field of salt production,” Mendoza said.
 
Pangasinan’s top salt producers
 
The town of Dasol in the western part of Pangasinan, is still the province’s top salt producer.
 
In 2021, Dasol produced 24,000 metric tons (MT) of salt from its more than 10,000 banigan (salt beds) located in 13 of its 18 villages, according to the data gathered by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg).
 
Dasol’s production that year was 37.4 percent of the province’s total production of 64,156.36 MT.
 
Next to Dasol is the town of Bolinao, which produced 12,240 MT of salt from its salt beds in the villages of Victory, Pilar, and Zaragoza.
 
Other salt producers in western Pangasinan are Alaminos City (5,208 MT), Bani (4,617 MT), and Anda (3,750 MT).
 
The town of Infanta produced about 9,622.8 MT of salt in 2021, but not from salt beds.
 
The salt was produced by boiling leached brine, a salt production method that is also practiced in the towns of Anda, San Fabian, and Mangaldan.
 
At present, Batalla said, Pangasinan salt farms’ total area is 1,432.4 hectares, and about 1,034 individuals are engaged in salt production.
 
Salt making is a livelihood source passed on from generation to generation.
 
With the innate love of Pangasinenses for this industry and with the efforts invested by the local government, the public can be sure that the crystal white and good quality salt will continue to reach the dining tables of every home. (JCR/AMB/PIA Pangasinan)