Arunachal’s apple belt bets on kiwi as warming winters bite
Farmers in Ziro and Tawang are grafting kiwi as apple trees fail to chill.
In the orchards around Ziro, where winter fog used to be thick enough to touch, growers are grafting kiwi vines onto ageing apple rootstock.
Apple requires a reliable chill that warming winters no longer provide; kiwi — which the state has promoted since the 1990s — is proving hardier and more profitable per acre.
The shift is not painless: kiwi needs trellising, pollinators and cold storage. But the first export-grade consignment to Dubai last year has convinced many farmers to make the jump.