It is not easy to filter sea water into salt, it is necessary to process quite long. Beginning by making a flat land for the place to drain sea water to be deposited and repeated up to five times in different lands. The sea water is channeled through a special gutter is raised using a windmill power or a machine pump to the ground and is carried out salt level checking with salinity or salt level gauge on the sea water every two days.
Continuing the sea water that has higher salts will be excluded to the next land so on to get into the fifth land which is the last process of salt crystallizing. Minimum heat temperature required to form crystals about 32 degrees Celsius and without rain. Salt crystal can be harvested on second week or 15th day. While with geomembrane technology in that time can harvest twice.
Although Mature is a 70 percent supplier of the total needs of national salt, but only a handful of people who are able to feel the "sweet" of Madura salt, namely entrepreneur and tengkulak. While salt processed workers and workers such as in Bunder Village, Pademawu District, Pamekasan, it is still difficult to enjoy the results of their wages as salt producers with the best quality in Indonesia because during this results of their salt processed only Rp350 thousand to Rp500 thousand per ton or far below the government’s twill price of Rp750 thousand per ton.
Worker flattens salt land, in Bunder Village, Pamekasan, Jatim.
Work leveling salt land, in Bunder Village, Pamekasan, Jatim.
Indonesia’s target towards salt swasembada in 2015 and Indonesia is free to import salts, continue to be a rejuvenation for salt processing in Madura. They continue to make a variety of efforts such as the use of geomembrane on the salt ground or the use of salt land base, so that the production line becomes twice folded with industrial salt quality than conventional salt processing.
Since the last year, most salt processing in Madura utilizes the latest technology even though it is not a little kelemehan they encounter when applied in the field such as the lack of salt crystals and finer grains. But many efforts continue to do the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) along with the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry to be Indonesia free to import salts in 2015, heading to salt swasembada in 2017.
Photo and Text : Saiful Bahri
