Feature: Living by sun and sea: Indonesia’s salt farmers battle climate, costs – Xinhua

Salt farmers in Cirebon, a port city on Indonesia’s Java island, are facing a precarious future as unpredictable weather patterns and rising operational costs threaten a traditional livelihood dependent on the natural rhythm of the sun, and sea.

For generations, families along the northern coast have harvested salt from shallow ponds, utilizing intense sunlight to evaporate seawater into crystalline mounds. This process is almost entirely dictated by nature, leaving farmers with little room for intervention and making them highly vulnerable to environmental shifts.

Climate Volatility and the Wet Dry Season

The success of salt production relies on long, uninterrupted periods of dry weather. However, local farmers report that this reliable rhythm has become increasingly unstable in recent years, leading to declining yields.

Ipin, a 38-year-old farmer in Rawaurip village, noted that the harvest in 2025 was limited due to a wet dry season, characterized by rain occurring during the periods when sunlight is most needed for evaporation.

The timing of the weather is critical to the operation, as a single downpour has the capacity to wash away weeks of labor.

The Threat of Tidal Flooding

Beyond the unpredictability of rainfall, low-lying salt fields are increasingly threatened by rising tidal waters. These floods present a more severe challenge than rain because they can completely reset the production process.

Raihan, 39, who returned from Jakarta in 2015 to farm full-time, described the impact of these tidal floods as more damaging than rainfall, stating that when the water enters the fields, farmers are forced to start the entire process over again.

Rising Operational Costs

Environmental pressures are compounded by a sharp increase in the cost of essential materials. Plastic sheeting, which is used as a one-time material during the final evaporation stage, has seen a significant price jump.

The cost of this sheeting has risen from 2.2 million rupiah, approximately 125 U.S. Dollars, to 3 million rupiah per batch. With profit margins thinning, these price fluctuations, combined with weather instability, have pushed many family-run operations toward financial instability.

Adaptation and Diversification

To survive these challenges, farmers in the region have been forced to diversify their sources of income. Because salt production is impossible during wet months, some farmers have turned to agriculture to supplement their earnings.

Raihan now grows corn, chili, and vegetables during the off-season. He emphasized the necessity of versatility in the face of a schedule decided by nature, stating that farmers must adapt to the changing environment to maintain their livelihoods.