How pottery gave hope to this village in a landscape prone to elephant conflict in Assam

Along the fringes of Assams Panidehing Wildlife Sanctuary where the Disang and Demow rivers feed the larger Brahmaputra system living alongside elephants has become part of everyday reality for communities living in Charaguwa Grant GaonElephants frequently move through the village at times passing close to household backyards For farming families however such proximity carries a high costMonths of labour can disappear within hours when elephants raid standing crops making agriculture an increasingly uncertain livelihoodFor the Bharali family repeated crop depredation eventually made cultivation untenable Their search for an alternative did not lead them to an unfamiliar occupation Instead Aaranyak helped the family return more securely to a skill they already possessed traditional potteryRadha Bharali 65 is a traditional potter with a physical mobility disability Pottery had long supplemented the households livelihood but production remained small and irregularRadhas disability made one of the most physically demanding parts of the craft extracting and transporting clay particularly difficult leaving his wife Putul Bharali to shoulder much of the production and marketrelated workThe problem was neither a lack of skill nor a lack of demand It was access to the basic raw material that kept their craft aliveWith limited capital the Bharalis could not purchase sufficient quantities of clay or regularly hire labour to collect and transport it As a result production remained restricted to around 200300 pots a month generating a gross monthly income of approximately Rs 40006000Recognising this specific constraint Aaranyak with support from the British Asian Trust Elephant Family and the Darwin Initiative designed a simple but targeted livelihood intervention Aaranyak provided the family with raw clay removing the immediate financial and logistical barrier limiting an existing livelihoodThe effect was strikingWith reliable access to clay the Bharalis increased production to around 500600 pots a monthAt a local selling price of approximately Rs 20 per pot their monthly gross income from pottery rose to about Rs 1000012000Traditional festivals have opened further opportunities During Bihu demand for earthenware increases allowing the family to benefit from seasonal salesDuring Diwali they also produce handmoulded diyas selling them for around Rs 45 each and adding another stream of seasonal incomeMore importantly the initial support has helped the family move towards selfreliance With their increased earnings Radha and Putul are now able to hire local wage labourers to collect and transport clay themselves What began as a modest input intervention has therefore enabled the household to sustain the livelihood without remaining dependent on continued material supportAaranyak extended the initiative to five other families in Charaguwa Grant Gaon who already possessed traditional potterymaking skills These households have similarly been able to strengthen their pottery livelihoods increase production and generate local incomeThe revival of pottery has also created an opportunity to connect the villages traditional knowledge with visitors Some families now welcome tourists to observe and participate in handmade pottery sessions giving the craft a cultural as well as economic dimensionWhat makes Charaguwas pottery especially distinctive is its simplicity There is little reliance on machinery or sophisticated equipment Clay is beaten moulded and shaped largely by hand with knowledge passed through generations guiding the processFor Aaranyak the intervention demonstrates an important principle of communitybased conservation livelihood resilience does not always require introducing something new Sometimes it requires recognising what already exists and removing the barrier preventing it from succeedingIn the Bharalis case the missing piece was simply clayThat distinction becomes particularly important in landscapes affected by humanelephant conflict Introducing an unfamiliar livelihood can demand extensive training new infrastructure market creation and longterm institutional supportStrengthening a livelihood already rooted in local knowledge can often be more practical and sustainable while allowing communities to retain their skills traditions and identityThe experience at Charaguwa Grant Gaon therefore represents more than a potterysupport initiativeFor families whose agricultural security is increasingly vulnerable to elephant conflict such interventions can provide meaningful economic alternatives without severing their connection to traditional knowledgeSometimes conservation solutions do not have to arrive from outside a community They may already be sitting quietly within it in an inherited skill a familiar resource or a tradition waiting for the right support to become viable againFor the Bharalis that possibility began with a lump of clay