Arunachal’s potato farmers of the Ziro plateau: a cash crop comes of age
The plateau's famous potatoes, once bartered for salt, now fill supermarket shelves from Itanagar to Delhi.
The potatoes of the Ziro plateau — firm, waxy, and prized for their keeping quality — have travelled a long road from the barter economy to supermarket shelves in Delhi.
A cooperative has standardised grading and packaging, and cold-storage units now smooth the seasonal glut.
Farmers credit the Apatani system that never rested: ‘Our fields feed us three times a year. The potato is the fourth crop.’