The Hindu : New Delhi News : Global aid to iodise Rajasthan salt

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Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009
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Global aid to iodise Rajasthan salt

Mohammed Iqbal

Pilot project has helped producers boost their output, profits

A unique project: International experts watching a crusher-cum-salt iodisation machine provided to small salt producers at Nawa under a UN World Food Programme-sponsored project.

NAWA (RAJASTHAN): Self-help groups of salt producers in this dusty town situated near the historic Sambhar Lake have joined a unique pilot project launched with global financial and technical support for iodisation of salt and improving the accessibility of quality salt to vulnerable sections of rural communities.

Often described as Rajasthan’s “salt hub”, the little Nawa town in Nagaur district has produced 1.55 lakh tonnes of iodised salt during the two-and-a-half years of the project initiated by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in association with the Micronutrient Initiative, UNICEF and the Canadian International Development Agency.

The SHGs representing small and medium salt producers have formed an apex cooperative federation for salt production, iodisation and market linkages. Called Naveen Utsah Sahakari Samiti, the federation has also improved the SHGs’ access to institutional credit and ensured sustainability for their enterprise.

Sahakari Samiti president Prabhu Singh told The Hindu that the pilot project had helped the salt producers boost their output as well as profit manifold. “The 211 members of the 20 SHGs have started earning a profit of Rs.70,000 to Rs.1 lakh a year. The salt is marketed through a reliable chain of traders and supplied as far as Bihar and West Bengal.”

The federation gets a 100 per cent subsidy on potassium iodate mixed into the salt from the WFP, while the SHGs have been provided with crusher-cum-salt iodisation machines free of cost. The iodine content in the salt, which should ideally be 30 ppm at the manufacturing level, is tested twice a day to ensure good quality of salt.

Salt experts from the Global Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency, who were in Jaipur for their board meeting this weekend, visited Nawa and were impressed by the project’s encouraging results. Network deputy chairman Walter Becky said the pilot project should be replicated at other major centres of salt production.

Micronutrient Initiative Regional Director (Asia Region) Luc Laviolette said the project was fulfilling the requirement of iodine as one of the essential micronutrients for the rural populace. Iodine deficiency inhibits normal body growth and stunts mental development and physical well-being of human beings.

The WFP project in-charge for Rajasthan, Deepti Gulati, said the subsidy on potassium iodate would be gradually reduced to 50 per cent and 25 per cent in the coming months, followed by a total phase-out in 2010, after which the producers would be self-sufficient. A sustainable marketing network is also likely to be established by then. Ms. Gulati said the project would shortly be extended to Pachpadra (Barmer), Phalodi (Jodhpur) and Kishangarh (Ajmer) to enable the local salt producers to organise themselves into SHGs and join the collective efforts for salt iodisation and marketing. The Jaipur-based CECOEDECON, has helped salt producers develop two new brands of salt – “Keerti” and “Sukhara” – and sell over 4,800 tonnes of salt under these brand names.

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