Berhampur; March 28: Gujarat-based Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) has taken up initiatives to save the century-old salt industry of Ganjam from the verge of collapse by improving the quality and yield of salt here.
Ajay Muralidhar Bhatt, a deputy director of Gujarat based CSMCRI, and Sudhakar Mohapatra, a consultant of the CSMCRI, have surveyed different regions of the state, including Balang, Surala, Sumandi, Ganjam and Humma, to improve the salt industry.
“We will move to Brahmagiri where we have heard that 700 to 900 acres of land is lying idle. We would like to survey the area. If possible, we would try to develop that area too for quality salt production,” said Bhatt.
“The consumption of salt in the state is more than 3 lakh tonnes every year, while the state’s salt production is 20,000 tonnes. There is a huge gap between the demand and supply of salt. The real problem in the state is not the quality of salt but the quantity of its production. The salt department of India, the state government and the CSMCRI together have initiated a project to popularise innovative methods of salt production. The project would ensure that Orissa does not depend on others for its salt consumption,” said Bhatt.
“Orissa has an adverse climatic conditions for the production of salt. We found out that sub-soil brine can be tapped through borewell. Concentrated source of brine can be given to the state, which will help salt production here. This is the model we followed at Humma in Ganjam during 2006-07,” said Bhatt.
A training programme for the salt manufacturers for improvement of quality and yield of salt was held at Purunabandha in Ganjam on Monday. It was organised by the salt department and the CSMCRI.
Speaking at the event, K. Durjyodhan Reddy, secretary of Humma-Binchannapalli Salt Production, said that salt farming should be treated as a part of the agriculture sector. “The new technology to modernise salt production would involve high power consumption. The salt farmers should be treated as agriculturists so that they could get the benefit of concession in power tariff,” he said.
