The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has established a special task force to comprehensively address the Thai sea salt problem, advancing efforts to ease farmers' difficulties. It highlights four measures to boost prices and increase value, aiming to create stable prices and sustainable production.
Mr. Krit Uttamawetin, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, revealed after chairing the first meeting of 2026 to discuss the development of the Thai sea salt production and market system at Meeting Room 134, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, that this initiative is a policy mission under the Thai Sea Salt Development Committee. The committee has clearly defined four driving measures as policy directed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Major General Thammanat Prompao. The approach gathers cooperation from all sectors to systematically and seriously solve the Thai sea salt problem under the “Sea to Government” concept, assigning the Department of Agricultural Extension as the lead agency. The meeting also discussed measures to address expected price declines from late January to February, tasking the department to carefully prepare management plans and price stabilization measures while reviewing lessons learned from previous efforts to improve efficiency.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives added that the Ministry is actively addressing the issue and moving forward to ease the hardships of Thai sea salt farmers. He emphasized that resolving the sea salt problem requires full integration of work across all relevant ministry agencies. Each agency is tasked with gathering data on sea salt usage in their respective production processes and preparing both main and contingency plans to handle potential limitations, ensuring effective implementation. This approach aims to produce tangible results in solving the Thai sea salt problem and serve as a model for addressing other agricultural product issues in the future.
“Addressing the Thai sea salt problem requires serious implementation of four key measures, alongside restructuring operations by establishing a special task force to support the Department of Agricultural Extension’s work. Currently, Thai sea salt production capacity has declined to about 500,000 tons, while demand remains high. Therefore, it is essential to upgrade quality and production processes to meet market standards. Credit measures will serve as the main mechanism to enhance investment capacity, and cooperatives and community enterprises will be promoted as centers to collect and further process products for sustainable value addition.” The Deputy Permanent Secretary of Agriculture :
outlined the four key measures in the 2026 operational plan to stabilize prices and increase the value of Thai sea salt: 1. Credit measures to manage production, 2. Promotion of cooperatives and community enterprises as provincial centers for product collection and sales, 3. Accelerating registration of sea salt farmers and establishing a central database, and 4. Developing knowledge and technology for quality sea salt production to reduce costs and add value.
Additionally, there is a plan to visit seven sea salt producing provinces—Chachoengsao, Pattani, Chonburi, Chanthaburi, Phetchaburi, Samut Songkhram, and Samut Sakhon—between 13 and 31 January 2026. This outreach aims to communicate government policies and measures directly to farmers, gather feedback from the field to refine the operational plan in line with farmers’ contexts and needs, and ultimately achieve sustainable long-term solutions to the Thai sea salt problem.
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