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| Farmers in Indonesia still depend on the solar activity for processing the salt |
Salt or in chemical term called as sodium chloride is one of the common product for consumption. In cooking, salt is responsible in generating bitterness which makes the cooking delicious. Despite of seasoning, salt is also utilized to keep the food fresh in traditional method of food preservation. Hence, salt is one of the essential product for human.
Consumption of salt is also important for metabolism, but consuming it excessively can cause many diseases including hypertension which lead to heart attack. Surprisingly, lack of salt could disturb the metabolism system as it supports the electrolyte and osmosis mechanisms.
Salt is produced and processed by crystallizing the seawater throughout radiating from sunlight traditionally and this method is called solar production and processing method. However, the production of salt in Indonesia met challenges because of the weather anomalies. Although weather particularly the sunlight is crucial and essential in producing and processing the salt, the production does not merely depend on the presence of sunlight. Optimization in salt manufacturing could be higher by applying technology in the method.
However, the government of Indonesia through the ministry of trade, fishery and marine as the authorized ministries do not have awareness in the technology of processing of salt yet. “The reason that the production of salt only reached about 0.23 of total target in Cirebon was caused by rain so the farmers could have not produced it”, stated by the official of local government of fishery and marine [1]. Technically speaking, this is the factual evidence that the related ministries put small awareness about the production. If weather is the problem, the solution is by constructing the production plant that can absorb sunlight without getting wet. Hence, the green house is one of the solutions.
In the meantime, in solving thus, the government issued the regulation to import the salt from another country which was considered as nonsensical solution. Importing is not a solution because we have the resources, but production plant is not constructed and operated effectively and efficiently. (note that Indonesia has one of the longest shoreline in the world).
Based on the data issued by the ministry of fishery and marine showed that the production of salt conducted by local communities had increased from 2011 to 2015 for 32 per cent averagely for a year. [2]. The referenced data suggested that in 2013 the production was the lowest as the hot season during that year was only two months.
From 2011 to 2015, the productions of salt accounted by the local communities were more than half, while the national and private enterprises produced less than a third from the national total. Surprisingly, the countries that imported salt to Indonesia were less-shoreline countries than Indonesia (Australia, India, China, New Zealand, and Thailand).
To conclude, the salt production in Indonesia was limited because of the lack of understanding in optimizing the quantities. Weather is not the main reason regarding of the production. Constructing the facilities and infrastructures, such as, green house is efficient and effective for traditional method. Whilst, the technology must be applied by implementing the crystallization method.
References
[1] B. Hermawan, "Cuaca Buruk Membuat Produksi Garam Rakyat Cirebon Turun," Antara, 26 November 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.republika.co.id/berita/nasional/daerah/16/11/26/oh8baf354-cuaca-buruk-membuat-produksi-garam-rakyat-cirebon-turun. [Accessed 07 August 2017].
[2] K. I. "Produksi Garam Indonesia," 2015. [Online]. Available: http://statistik.kkp.go.id/sidatik-dev/Berita/Analisis%20Produksi%20Garam%20Indonesia.pdf. [Accessed 07 August 2017].
[3] Image is credited form www.thejakartapost.com