THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT ISSN 2321–8916 www.theijbm.com 265 Vol 8 Issue 9 DOI No.: 10.24940/theijbm/2020/v8/i9/BM2009-066 September, 2020 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT The Management of Modern Salt Business as a Community Economic Improvement on Remote Islands in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia 1. Introduction East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is one of the provinces in Indonesia which is an archipelago province, consisting of 1,192 islands and only 432 islands that have names. Based on the classification of Schmid and Ferguson (1992), most of the NTT region is a semi-arid area characterized by a dry season that are about 9 months in a year or a rainy season of only about 3 months a year. Based on these extreme climatic conditions, farming activities can only be carried out during one season in a year, that is during the rainy season. Therefore, problems with limited income and limited food availability are happens more often in rural households on these critical areas. From a geographical aspect, some of the islands in East Nusa Tenggara are categorized as isolated islands because during the high sea wave season there is no mobility to and from the island. Community livelihoods as subsistence farmers with food production and catch is very limited. Especially for coastal communities, they rarely have cash because there are no products that can be used as trading commodities. Therefore, the existence of a model for the development of the people's salt industry in a modern way is expected to provide income for the community so that becomes a multiplier effect on the acceleration of the economy in these remote areas. As an archipelago province, there are rows of islands in this region so that it has a coastline of 5,700 Km (East Nusa Tenggata Statistical Bureau, 2019); which is very potential to be developed by the salt industry. So far, people's salt industry in this region has only been carried out traditionally so that production is very low. and takes quite a long time (± 30 days), limited production, low product quality due to high pollutant content and only 80% - 90% NaCl content so that the selling price of the product is low. On the other hand, salt that is produced in a modern way contains NaCl 95% - 97% so that it is not only for consumption needs but also suitable for industrial needs. The salt industry with geomembrane technique is one of the modern salt industries which at this time has been widely developed. The production process of salt cultivation using geomembrane techniques is faster, which is around 10-14 days with production increasing to more than 200%, and the product selling price is much higher (Effendi, Zainuri, and Hafiluddin, 2012; Iswidodo and Ciptomulyono, 2013). The salt industry with geomembrane techniques has also been implemented in the NTT region. Because starting this business required a lot of capital, two local governments in NTT initiated the business by involving local communities. Supposedly, the semi-arid conditions in NTT would greatly support this modern salt industry to be able to produce optimally. However, in fact, not all businesses run smoothly. Some of the salt industries with geomembrane techniques have not developed well, although there are also those whose business is progressing rapidly. Wiendiyati Senior Lecturer, Agribusiness Programme Study, Nusa Cendana University of Indonesia, Indonesia Muhammad S. Mahmuddin Nur Senior Lecturer, Agro-Technology Programme Study, Nusa Cendana University of Indonesia, Indonesia Ignatius Sinu Senior Lecturer, Agribusiness Programme Study, Nusa Cendana University of Indonesia, Indonesia Abstract: The modern salt business is an alternative to the community's economic business in remote island areas. However, this business requires large investment capital which is impossible for local people to do, so it needs support from the government and the private sector. This study aims to obtain a model of management for the modern salt business by involving local communities. The results showed that there are three scenarios of modern salt industry management models with the involvement of local communities where the two models have gone through the review, evaluation and adaptation stages so it is expected that there will be perfection in its implementation. Meanwhile, one other model has never been implemented so requires initiation from the local government and the private sector to start piloting this scenario. Keywords: Management models, modern salt business, local community