The TESDA- Occidental Mindoro thru the leadership of PD Rosalina P. Reyes conducted a Consultation Meeting on Salt Production as the prospective Area-Demand Driven TVET in Occidental Mindoro with the Board of Directors of Tamaraw Salt Producers Cooperative of Occidental Mindoro (TAMACO) on October 11, 2022 in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
Present in the said meeting were:
From TAMACO:
Mr. Felix Bernales Jr.- Chairman
Mr. John Harold Duque- Board of Director
Mr. Luis Rafael Santos- Board of Director
Ms. Nique Rose Lasac- General Manager
Ms. Janiza Española- Admin Assistant
From TESDA:
Ms. Rosalina P. Reyes- Provincial Director
Ms. Ma. Belen F. Pantaleon- Supervising TESD Specialist
Ms. Baby Ruth S. Hablo- Senior TESD Specialist
The Highlights of the Discussion were:
- Background of Status of Salt Industry in Occidental Mindoro
Occidental Mindoro is an island province having one of the longest coastlines in the Philippines. It was once one of the biggest salt producers in the country. In 1990, it produced and contributed about 60,000 metric tons of the 338,000MT or 18% of the country’s total salt production (Business Mirror, 2017). Over the years, salt production in the province declined due to a number of factors which include erratic weather patterns due to climate change, production losses, poor logistics, poor production and organizational management, water pollution, lack of research and development activities on salt productivity and few policies in place to support the industry.
- Present Situation of Salt Industry
Today, while Occidental Mindoro still supplies salt in the neighbouring provinces in Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, only 12 percent of the national salt requirement comes from the province with the biggest chunk of the demand supplied by imported salts (Duque, 2019).
Present situation of TAMACO
Issues and Concerns:
- Development of salt beds
- Skills training for workers
- Capability building program for workers
- Standard process of salt making
- Use and maintenance of iodizing machine
- Roadmap of Salt Industry
The roadmap envisioned that by 2022, the province of Occidental Mindoro shall be known as the Salt Capital of the Philippines producing high quality salt products at competitive prices for the domestic market catering to the consumers, food processors, industrial and agricultural users. (DTI, 2018). Occidental Mindoro State College having been tasked to undertake researches related to the salt industry which includes salt quality analyses, salt production cultural practices, and salt farmers’ behavioral attitudes in salt harvest and optimization studies on salt. To date, the sparse baseline data are in place to establish the quality, volume per unit area, and salinity of supply water used for salt produced across the existing salt farms. Moreover, there is a dearth of data on the challenges and constraints experienced by the salt farm owners and farmers which could be used to design programs and projects to help revitalize this shrinking industry in the Province.
It is on this premise, that the TESDA Provincial Office with the TAMACO Board of Directors would like to request for a technical assistance in the conduct of Functional Analysis of the farm workers and the Development of Competency Standard to come up with a training regulation in the future in Salt Production being the Area-Demand Driven TVET in Occidental Mindoro.