In Indonesia, Bali’s salt farmers are a dying breed, who harvest ‘white gold’ in dark sands

In Bali, salt is harvested by hand from the sea by farmers, whose craft of collecting ‘white gold’ has become a dying art

Today, the condiment is mostly produced industrially – and is often inferior and consists of 100 per cent sodium chloride

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An Indonesian salt farmer carries baskets of salt. Most salt is industrially processed but in Bali, it is won from the sea by farmers who harvest it by hand. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:00am, 7 May 2024

Nyoman Warta laboriously carries seawater in two simple containers to the beach of Kusamba, a coastal village located on the island of Bali, in Indonesia.

As is the tradition, he balances them on a pole that rests heavily across his shoulders, and then pours the contents with deliberate care into the dark sand.

As the head of the family, Warta enthusiastically runs the small traditional business and proudly shows interested tourists how salt is produced.

His grandmother was involved in the salt business here, in the Klungkung province. The region lies roughly halfway between the popular holiday resorts of Sanur and Candidasa on the island’s eastern coast.

“There are only about five of these traditional salt farms left in Bali, and almost all of them are here in the east of the island,” says tour guide Putu Surya, who is happy to show holidaymakers this unknown side of Bali.

The tradition of salt farming has been handed down for generations, but it is now a dying art. Photo: Reuters

Salt used to be called “white gold,” that’s how valuable and sought-after the crystalline solid once was.