Rain Spoils Salt Fields in India’s West

Indian salt pan workers salvage salt from flooded salt pans near Odu village in the Little Rann of Kutch region, some 150 kms from Ahmedabad, in first week of May, 2013. Recent unseasonal rains in the region have washed away tons of precious salt in the Little Rann of Kutch region of Gujarat state which was being readied for harvest, ruining the livelihood of hundreds of already poverty-striken salt pan workers. Gujarat accounts for 70 percent of India's salt production. SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images

Nonseasonal rains few weeks ago washed away over 200,000 tonnes of salt and affected the livelihoods of nearly 2,000 small and medium salt producers in India’s west.

According to a report in Business Standard, most of these salt makers cultivate less than 10 acres of land in Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) area of Gujarat state.

These salt producers called Agariyas locally, started cultivating salt in the region in 1872.

A salt-pan owner in LRK, Jayvirsinh Zala, said in a DNA report that 80% of the salt that was produced has been washed away. “We are staring at terrible losses, and so are the agariyas,”

“Usually, agariyas are paid on the basis of per metric tonne of salt produced. A few of them were paid in advance while others were awaiting payment. But now with the salt washed away, we don’t know what to do,” Zala said to DNA.

Gujrat produces around 70 percent of India’s salt.