India's desert salt farmers feel the heat from climate change

A labourer showing crystals of salt on a salt pan in the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) region near Kharaghoda village, some 150 km from Ahmedabad. – Photos: AFP

Roshni Thakor left school to harvest salt from a sun-baked Indian desert, a backbreaking trade practised by her ancestors for centuries but now threatened by climate change.

For eight months every year, farmers toil in scorching heat to pump out briny water from handmade wells in a sparse corner of western Gujarat state.