CHARCOAL

A subsistence livelihood of the Koli tribe in the eastern part of Kutch is the production of charcoal from acacia roots.  The acacia (prosopis juliflora) is a weed, not indigenous to India, planted widely in the 1960s as part of a forestation programme but it has now run wild.  With encouragement from local authorities, the Koli people dig up the acacia, chop it into neat pieces and lay it carefully into a cone-shaped pile about 5-feet high.  The pile is covered with earth, leaving air vents for smoke to escape.  A fire is lit underneath and in this way it burns slowly for four days, until the air vents no longer smoke and it can be unpacked and the lump charcoal, now a salable product can be bagged and transported.