File:Samutsakorn Salt Field 3.jpg

English: Samut Sakhon is situated along a coastal area suitable for shrimps and salt farming, and is the Thailand’s largest source of salt production. Most of shrimp farms and salt fields are operated in the subdistrict of Kalong, Na Khok, Ban Bo, Bang Tho Rat,Khok Kham, and Phanthai Norasingh in Muang district, and along the Thonburi-Pakthor Highway to Samut Songkhram.

Salt production is carried out in a pan, called “Thab”, each of which covers an area of 30-40 rai, with 40 metres in width and 1,200-1,600 metres in length. One pan is divided into paddies, called “Krathong”. These paddies are used to evaporate seawater which contains different level of salinity, and are separated by soil ridges. As a result of separation, it causes “Pool of seawater”, a large and deep paddy with wide ridges. Windmills are employed to irrigate seawater into paddies. Seawater is then left for several months until brine becomes crystalised with thickness of approximately 5 millimetres. Salt is then gathered by raking into baskets and piled up in a pyramid shape to again be dried out before being sold in packs.

During the rainy season, salt production is impossible as rain will wash brine away from the fields, and salt cannot be dried out. Salt producers therefore turn their fields into an area for farming marine creatures, e.g. shrimps, crabs, fish, and so on, collectively called “Shrimp farm”.