Kashmir’s potato pits are vanishing – and generations of knowledge could be buried for ever

The Guardian reports the following. ENC is republishing it as an attributed briefing, not as independently confirmed fact. If this item is false or incomplete, the responsibility sits with The Guardian, which released it. Farmers in Gurez store their harvests underground to last the Himalayan winter. As the practice fades, local varieties and handed-down skills are disappearing too Hajra Begum rolls a potato in her hands, checking its skin for cuts, soft spots and signs of rot. After a day harvesting in her family’s field in Chorwan, a remote mountain village in Gurez, Indian-administered Kashmir, she is sorting the crop for winter storage. Some of the potatoes will feed her family through the cold months; others will be saved for planting in spring. “It should be perfect for planting,” she says. “If you keep a bad potato, you will waste the whole next year.” Continue reading... Original link: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/nov/04/kashmir-potato-pits-vanishing-indigenous-knowledge-buried-aoe