Bumper harvest

Farmers in areas such as West Java's Cirebon Regency on the island of Java's northern coast spend hours scraping crystallized salt from the pond floors before gathering it into piles for collection.

Even brief rainfall can interrupt the process, reducing production and quality.

"For us, El Nino is a blessing and a grace. It's something we should be grateful for," Dadang Darmawan, 45, the head of a local salt farmers' group, told Reuters during a visit to a salt farm in Cirebon, which has only seen one light drizzle in over a month.