How solar pumps lit up the lives of salt farmers in Gujarat

Newly married Kalishaben moved to the desert of Little Rann of Kutch a year ago with her husband Premji Kutecha, a salt farmer or agariya, as they are called in Gujarat.

“My husband’s family owns four salt pans in Kharaghoda region in Surendranagar district of Gujarat. I learnt to make salt and have been working with my husband since I got married. His whole family is into salt making. My mother-in-law works in another farm about two kilometres away. After work, we get back to our temporary home in the desert which is in the middle of the four salt pans owned by our family,” says 29-year-old Kailashben.

Kailashben’s family is one of the traditional salt farmers of Little Rann of Kutch, a seasonal salt marsh located in the Thar desert in Gujarat.

Kailashben's life changed after installing solar panels in the salt farms.

Kailashben’s family migrates every year to the desert for nine months like over 40,000 salt workers from 108 villages situated around the border of the Little Rann of Kutch in north-west Gujarat.

“My two sons are in school. They don’t work in the saltpans. I don’t want the same fate for them,” tells Kailashben.

Three years back, Kalishaben’s family was debt-ridden and unable to afford education for their children. Her two sons, then five and eight years old respectively, would accompany the family to the desert to live for nine months in a makeshift shack in extreme weather conditions.

“There was a time when we would barely have any extra money after paying the loan at the end of the season. My husband and I would work at the Ganja, or the units where salt is iodized and packed to be transported to other parts of the country. We used to load the salt packets in the trucks. The average payment for the work is 18 paise per tonne,” she tells The Federal.

“To survive, we would have to take out a loan once again. We never could be debt free until three years ago. In 2021, we saved money after paying off our loan for the first time,” says 34-year-old Premjibhai Kutecha, Kailashben’s husband.

“In 2021, we began using solar pumps instead of diesel pumps. It changed our lives. We saved Rs 40,000 that we would spend on diesel every season,” he says.

Three years after the family began to use solar pumps, Premjibhai managed to get out of the never-ending debt trap and built a pucca house in Kharaghora, his village in Surendranagar.

“I have also bought jewellery worth Rs 1.5 lakh for the marriage of my elder son. That’s something I could only dream of earlier,” says Kailashben.

Another saltpan worker Tejal Makwana has a similar story to share.

Sixty-year-old Tejalben has been a salt farmer for over 40 years. As a child, Tejal saw her grandfather pumping brine by using bullocks and a makeshift tray that would take the water and pour it in the salt pan.

A solar that runs the solar pumps in salt pans.

“I thought the ghaghar, the bullock driven tray, that my grandfather used was a tiring process to fill salt pans. One had to manually push the handle of the tray and manage the bulls. When I got married, my husband, also a salt worker, bought a diesel pump. My family was impressed as that was something only a few could afford back then,” Tejalben, a resident of Junagaon village of Surendranagar, says The Federal.

“After spending 40 years in this desert, we have been introduced to solar pumps. It has been the best thing to have happened to us. We needed 13 drums of oil for the diesel pumps each season. Each 200 litres drum of oil would cost us Rs 10,000. Now, we only need seven drums through the season to run the pump for a few hours at night. Now, I make around Rs 2 lakh at the end of the season,” she says.

Making of the salt

During the monsoon months, the Rann of Kutch is submerged. It becomes a brackish water lake with 11 rivers from Saurashtra, north Gujarat and Rajasthan merging into the Arabian Sea that enters the region via a creek.

As sea water finally begins to recede in October, the agariyas migrate from their respective villages and begin the process of salt farming that spans from October to June.

First, they dig wells to pump out highly saline groundwater from the lake of brine that lies 40 feet below the crust. Then the square shaped salt pans are prepared using mud from the marsh to create boundaries that hold the pumped-out brine. Then the farmers stamp and level the earth with their bare feet to ensure that the soil doesn’t allow the brine to seep back.

This is where the brine evaporates to leave behind crystals of crude salt.

Then the wait begins for months until the salt pans turn completely white with crude salt. That is when the harvest season officially begins in winter.

As sea water finally begins to recede in October, the agariyas migrate from their respective villages and begin the process of salt farming that spans from October to June.

Once the first layer of salt is formed, it is scraped with gantaras or heavy wooden rakes that the agariyas make themselves. The salt in the salt pans needs to be continuously raked to separate it from the mud and sand and piled up onto the sides of the pans to be collected later. The crude salt is finally collected and sent to refining units.

After the harvest, the families go back to the native villages for four months. Every year, the monsoons wash their saltpans away, and the agariyas start the process all over.

“Concentrated salt content in the water and harsh weather were not the only factors harming the quality of life and health of the salt workers of Little Rann of Kutch. Salt pan workers in Kutch have traditionally used diesel for the pumps that used to pump the brine water to the salt pans. The agariyas bought the pumps discarded by salt refining units as they could never afford a new set. The pump used to be placed beside the temporary shacks of the agariyas exposing them to noxious fumes and noise. It was additional work for the agariyas who would have to repair, clean, and refill the pump all by themselves. Often the women who would not work in the salt pans were tasked with the work and the exposure to soot made them sick,” tells Pankti Jog, moderator of Agariya Heetrakshak Committee, a Gujarat based NGO working with the salt workers.

“Besides, it was not cost effective. The fuel would cost about 70 per cent of the total cost of making salt. At the end of the eight-month season, a salt pan farmer would be left with hardly Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000. After repaying debts and the advance taken at the beginning of the season, the salt pan farmers used to be left with hardly any money. This pushed them into a vicious cycle of debt,” added Jog.

Introduction of solar pumps

Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), an organisation established by prominent social worker, late Elaben Bhatt, in 2012 formed Grassroots Trading Network for Women (GTNFW) to work with the agariya women and finding a way to mitigate issues raised by using diesel pumps.

“The aim was to save low-income salt pan workers from the burden of huge fuel prices. After a few trips to the Little Rann of Kutch, we proposed a plan and in 2013 provided a solar pump to ten agariya families as a pilot project. After using the solar pumps for a month, the workers found that they could do the same work with just 400 litres of diesel, which means about two canisters. Earlier it would take about 12-13 canisters of diesel for the same job,” Devesh Shah, the CEO of GTNFW told The Federal.

A makeshift shack in which salt farmers live through eight months even in 45 degrees temperature in the desert.

“But the solar pump costs approximately Rs 1,80,000 as compared to diesel pumps that cost around Rs 50,000. Our organisation did not have that kind of money to provide solar pumps to every agariya family. So, we presented our plan to the then Gujarat government in February 2014 when Narendra Modi was still the chief minister of the state. He went on to become the PM two months later and we never heard back from the state government about the project,” adds Shah.

SEWA later partnered with SunEdison, a US-based renewable energy company, and World Bank in 2015 for the project.

“We decided to help the agariyas by giving loans to the women salt farmers. We formed Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank Ltd to offer loans with the option of seasonal repayment in an installment that suited the workers’ needs. For example, if a family saved Rs 10,000 in a month, the monthly loan installment would be Rs 8,000. If another family saved less, their installment would also be less,” said Shah.

However, the plan did not take off initially with the agariyas hesitant to take more loans to switch to solar pumps.

“Initially, the debt-ridden families flatly refused to take further loans to buy solar pumps. We would meet them and explain the benefits but they were still hesitant. So, in 2016, we distributed around 50 solar pump sets to some of the agariya families. When these families saw a turnaround in their income, other families began to show interest. Gradually, by 2021, 200 families had switched to solar pumps,” said Heenaben Katariya, a SEWA employee from Surendranagar.

“The solar pumps did not just increase their income. It also helped in giving the agariyas a better quality of life in the harsh desert. Now they use solar panels to generate electricity. The shacks in the desert have fans and lights. Later, a solar park was built in the area and agariyas managed to generate about 2.7 MegaWatt during the off season. We managed to get permission from the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) to sell the surplus power to the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL). This created an extra income for the agariyas,” she added.

No government support

Salt farming has been the traditional occupation of the Chunvalia Kolis, a scheduled caste community of Gujarat, for over 500 years. Agariyas produce about 0.35 million metric tonnes, accounting for 40 per cent of India’s inland salt production.

Yet the community has been living below the poverty line without basic amenities.

A report released by the Women and Child welfare Department of the Gujarat government in 2019 stated that there has been no change in the economic, social and health related problems of the salt workers of the state in 20 years.

“Nearly 43,000 men and women from 108 villages situated on the border of the Little Rann live in sub-human conditions for eight months a year. They mainly live in poorly knit tents, without electricity, drinking water, health facilities and education for children. The plight is worse for women who have to work around 15 hours on an average as against the men who work for 10 hours per day,” read the report.

However, little has been done by the government since the report was published.

Noticeably, the last settlement survey of the agariyas was undertaken by the Gujarat government 1997 based on which saltpan workers are issued benefits like water, and health services in the desert.

“In 2023, we filed a memorandum to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel seeking a fresh settlement survey. The salt farmers still face acute shortage of water because government-hired tankers fail to cover all the families. Besides, the health van service is not regular and does not cover the whole of Little Rann of Kutch,” said Harinesh Pandya, president of Agariya Heetrakshak Committee.

Salt farmers in the Little Rann of Kutch.

“On papers there are some state government schemes for the salt workers like providing a rest shed, protective kits, mobile medical van, mobile ration van, supply of drinking water by pipeline and tankers, Anganvadi for children of salt workers etc. But no effort has gone in implementation of any of these schemes. The area is still waiting for a water pipeline even though industries in the region receive water from Narmada. There are no rest sheds, mobile ration van or protective kits provided by the government. Most of the salt workers still work barefoot or wear slippers. They carry their ration when they migrate from their villages and make their makeshift shacks where they live through eight months even in 45 degrees temperature in the desert,” he shared.

Nevertheless, the farmers have found solace with their own efforts. With a little help from the government, salt farming may turn into a prosperous livelihood option.