“A country surrounded by seawater should never face a salt crisis.”
🧂 The Salty Truth
In 2024, Sri Lankans paid up to Rs. 400 per kilo for salt — a basic staple that should be affordable, local, and abundant. But instead of harnessing our natural advantages, we imported 30,000 tonnes of salt. The issue isn’t availability — it’s management.
Sri Lanka has the ocean, the sun, and the people. What we need now is a coordinated, modern, and fair system.
📍 Where Salt Comes From in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's salt production comes from solar evaporation, mainly in coastal salt farms known as lewayas (salterns). These are shallow ponds where seawater is allowed to evaporate under sunlight, leaving behind crystallized salt.
🔸 Major Salt-Producing Areas:
Puttalam – The largest and most well-known. Managed by the Lanka Salt Ltd and various private entities. Produces over 60% of national salt.Despite their locations and natural advantages, many of these salt fields are outdated, lacking proper lining, tools, or sustainable practices. Salt is still often manually harvested, with workers standing in brine barefoot, using rakes and buckets under intense heat.
❌ What’s Holding These Farms Back?
While the natural environment is ideal, decades of neglect have left our salt farms inefficient. The evaporation beds are unlined, leading to contamination and reduced yields. There’s little to no mechanization, making harvesting slow and labor-intensive.
Additionally, there is no centralized refining or packaging infrastructure, meaning much of the salt is sold unprocessed, uniodized, or wasted.
Transport from remote areas like Hambantota or Mannar is expensive and inefficient, further raising the cost to consumers.
And because many farms are not formally regulated or mapped, it's hard for government or private investors to provide targeted upgrades.
🛠️ How to Revive and Improve Sri Lanka's Salt Fields
We don’t need to start from scratch — we need to rebuild smarter.
First, let’s map every salt pan in the country using satellite and drone tech. This gives us a clear view of capacity, land usage, and investment needs.
Next, we line the salterns using geo-membrane or clay-based material. This alone can increase salt purity and yields by up to 30–40%.
Introduce mechanized harvesting equipment, including automated rakes, brine pumps, and drying platforms — even solar dryers — so workers aren’t exposed to hazardous manual labor.
In places like Elephant Pass and Mannar, we can relaunch production with modern pans and train ex-fishermen and returning families to become salt entrepreneurs.
Create regional salt cooperatives in Jaffna, Hambantota, and Puttalam, with a dedicated Salt Processing & Packaging Centre in each province — equipped with iodization, branding, and export-ready facilities.
Revive Bundala’s salt works through public-private partnerships, and allow Hambantota Port logistics to transport salt nationally and internationally.
Also, invest in rainwater runoff systems and elevated salt pans to protect against seasonal flooding — a growing threat with climate change.
Finally, educate and certify salt workers — giving them access to health insurance, safety gear, and better pay through formalized employment.
🌍 Inspiration From Developing Countries
Many nations just like ours have done it — and done it well. Let’s look at what they achieved, and how we can do even better.
🇮🇳 In India, the salt revolution began in Gujarat, where small producers were brought into cooperatives, given access to solar drying technology, and supported by the government with a national branding strategy. India now produces over 30 million tonnes annually and exports to 100+ countries. They turned desert land into global supply chains.
🇧🇩 In Bangladesh, over 60,000 families in Cox’s Bazar rely on salt farming as a primary livelihood. The government provided modern lined salt pans, supported women-led cooperatives, and launched mobile iodization labs to ensure quality. Salt is not just a product — it’s a tool for rural empowerment.
🇻🇳 Vietnam focused on resilience and organization. They introduced climate-smart salt pans, irrigation systems, and government-backed salt unions that helped them withstand floods while growing domestic and export markets.
🇹🇿 Tanzania used Public-Private Partnerships to build coastal salt parks and increase production capacity. They enforced anti-hoarding rules, controlled prices during shortages, and expanded their exports across East Africa.
🇰🇪 In Kenya, industrial zones like the Magarini Salt Park helped attract investment, develop packaging and export capabilities, and reduce import reliance by encouraging solar salt production. Local councils also took charge of zoning and environmental protections.
They didn’t just manage salt — they built entire economies from it.
🔬 What About Other Methods Beyond Lewayas/Salterns?
Yes — salt doesn’t only come from traditional evaporation ponds. There are modern, alternative production methods that Sri Lanka can explore:
Vacuum Evaporation systems use reduced pressure to evaporate water at lower temperatures. These are ideal for producing high-purity salt in a compact space and work year-round — though they require reliable electricity and investment.
Boiling in metal pans — a low-tech method used in rural Asia and Africa — can be done using firewood or biomass. Though not as efficient, it’s viable for small-scale inland producers, especially if paired with solar boilers.
Greenhouse-style evaporation units trap heat more effectively than open pans and allow for weather-proof production, especially in areas prone to rain. They’re ideal for regions like Trincomalee or Kalpitiya, where sunlight is high but seasons are variable.
Sri Lanka doesn't have known underground brine or rock salt deposits, so mining isn't feasible, but hybrid production models combining solar, biomass, and mechanized tools offer excellent potential.
By diversifying production methods, we can expand beyond the coast, reduce climate risks, and empower inland communities to contribute to the national salt economy.
🌟 Sri Lanka’s Vision 2030: What Success Looks Like
Imagine this:
We export “Pure Lankan Sea Salt” to premium markets around the world.
Salt costs less than Rs. 100/kg locally.
Mannar, Hambantota, and Jaffna become booming salt towns again.
Over 10,000 rural families find stable jobs in a clean, regulated industry.
And we never import salt again.
That future isn’t far. We just have to start.
💬 Final Word: Let’s Stop Importing What We Can Produce
Salt isn’t just about seasoning food. It’s about sovereignty, dignity, and economic common sense.
If India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kenya, and Tanzania can do it — so can we.
We don’t need more reports.
We need reforms, investments, and national pride.
Let’s make sure the next generation hears this not as a crisis…
…but as the turning point that started it all.
Let’s reclaim our salt. Reclaim our economy. Reclaim our future. 🇱🇰
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