Assam pottery craft revitalized as alternative to elephant-driven crop loss

In the Charaguwa Grant Gaon village near Assam’s Panidehing Wildlife Sanctuary, frequent elephant raids on crops have made traditional agriculture an unreliable livelihood for local families. For the Bharali family, repeated crop depredation by elephants forced a search for alternative income sources.

The family turned to traditional pottery, a skill they already possessed. However, production was limited by the high cost and physical difficulty of extracting and transporting raw clay, especially for Radha Bharali, who lives with a physical mobility disability. This constraint restricted their monthly production to approximately 200-300 pots, yielding a low gross income.

To address this, the organization Aaranyak, supported by the British Asian Trust, Elephant Family, and the Darwin Initiative, implemented a livelihood intervention. By providing the family with raw clay, the program removed the logistical and financial barriers that had previously hindered their craft, allowing them to stabilize their income through pottery.