Ministries to shake up salt sector with new strategy

Ministries to shake up salt sector with new strategy

 

The Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation is preparing the 2022-2026 salt development strategy to develop, manage and conserve fields in the Kingdom – almost exclusively in Kampot and Kep provinces – and improve the economic efficiency of salt production.

Speaking at the opening of the ministry’s annual review meeting on February 7, minister Cham Prasidh underlined that the five-year strategy is designed with policy measures that encourage salt production in a manner that is “proper, transparent and accountable”, with a view to ensuring the optimal allocation and distribution of resources with minimum wastage.

One of the key issues that needs to be addressed in the field is the rehabilitation of abandoned or neglected salt fields that remain in the books, he stressed.

According to Prasidh, the Ministry of Economy and Finance is also lending a hand to refine the guidelines and other mechanisms outlined in the five-year strategy.

Huon Sorangsey, director of the industry ministry’s Department of Handicraft Affairs, told The Post that the government considers salt a strategic commodity, and is developing the strategy to prop up producers in Kampot and Kep.

He said his ministry, in collaboration with its finance counterpart, is updating procedures to establish a new salt-field association to build and support a sustainable future for the salt sector.

The draft has been finalised but has yet to be approved by the senior levels of government, he said, adding that given the green light, the document would be signed by the industry and finance ministries and put into formal implementation.

The department reported that Cambodia produced more than 75,000 tonnes of salt in 2021, down by over 20,000 tonnes from a year earlier.

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Authur: Hom Phanet

Source: The Phnom Penh Post

Publication date: 08 February 2022