People in Dien Chau and Quynh Luu districts in Nghe An have produced salt from seawater for generations. However, the number of people following the job has recently sharply decreased.

Dang Thi Thao, 58, complained that sea salt prices have remained low despite the hard work, while there are now many better-paid jobs. In addition, water pollution has recently become a problem affecting their production.

"I've been producing salt on an area of 250 square metres," Thao said. "My work starts at 5 am when I come to take water. I then visit the site at 11 am for other processing and return at 4 pm for harvesting. On a sunny day, I can collect over 100 kilos of salt and earn over VND200,000 (USD8). But if it rains, I earn nothing.

Thao said that as the work is hard and unstable, her children and other young people in her district have decided not to follow it, leaving hundreds of hectares of salt production area abandoned.

Another local, Nguyen Van Tinh, 60, said her family has produced sea salt for four generations. However, they've abandoned their last production area, and all his children have taken other jobs.

"The seawater in my area has become polluted, affecting our product output and quality," Tinh said. I hope the local authorities can support us in using our land for other purposes."

Dien Chau District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development head Le The Hieu said that half of the 120 hectares local people use to produce salt following traditional seawater drying methods have been abandoned.

"Despite government support to enhance production methods to improve capacity and quality, many workers have left the job due to low incomes," he said. We're planning to transform some of the abandoned land areas for other purposes, like fish farming, while encouraging people to continue salt production."

The official also shared about a project to develop the sea salt production area into a tourist site where visitors can learn about local traditional salt making.