Madura Island, The Largest Salt Field in Southeast Asia ⋆ travellingto.asia

For approximately 500 years, Madura Island is known as a traditional salt-producing region in Southeast Asia. There are more than 15,000 hectares of fields that produce salt with the help of sunlight.

Madura Island is the main salt supplier in Indonesia and this has been going on since 500 years ago. That panic of Madura Island is also called Salt Island. This name is not excessive considering traditional salt production on Madura Island is the largest in Southeast Asia.

Salt fields on Madura Island are the largest in Indonesia and cover an area of 15,000 hectares. This vast area is spread in several places such as the southern coast of Sampang Regency, Pamekasan and Sumenep. This salt field is divided into 4,572 plots. From each plot can produce at least 10 tons of salt for one period, with the production period to harvest since the water flowed is 28-30 days.

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The traditional process of making salt is very easy and simple. Sea water is flowed into the prepared place, then deposited and cleaned of mud, flowed into the prepared plots. the sea water will dry out and only salt is still mixed with a little water after approximately 28-30 days. After completely crystallizing in that time span, the salt is ready to be harvested.

Usually the production process is carried out in April during the dry season. The salt granules that have just been taken from the pond are not completely dry yet. Therefore, the salt that has been harvested is still dried in the sun and aerated through a gust of coastal wind for about 4-10 days. The process of making and drying this salt 100% uses the help of sunlight and wind as the main energy. Solar light functions to evaporate seawater so that only the salt crystals remain, while the wind with the help of windmills is used to pump water into the pond location.