Potatoes: Buried Treasure in Gurez Valley

Gurez Valley, Jammu & Kashmir

Winter is setting in in the remote Gurez Valley in Bandipora district, which remains cut off from the rest of the world for about six months in a year due to heavy snowfall in North Kashmir.

The people who live here have for centuries devised ways and means of surviving there and keeping themselves safe and provided for. The world is now recognising their ancient farming techniques as climate resilient practices that can help respond to the challenges posed by climate change. “One of the things we do is bury our potatoes deep in the ground after they are harvested. This is exactly what our ancestors did and we do the same,” Abdul Khaliq, a 48-year-old farmer from Bagtore village, told Gaon Connection.

Khaliq said the potatoes remained fresh and continued to be nutritious even after months of being buried.

Khaliq is just one of the hundreds of farmers who in order to be self-sufficient and well stocked with food during the long winter months, still keep ancestral wisdom and traditions alive in their farming and storing techniques, which are also climate-resilient farming practices.

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Farmers are set to work as winter approaches. They dig deep and store the potatoes in the pits layered with hay or straw that maintains a conducive temperature and humidity.

Explaining how the ancient practice works, Dr Bilal, senior scientist with Krishi Vigyan Kendra , Gurez, told Gaon Connection: “Farmers go down deep in the ground depending on how much produce they need to store. The cavernous underground storage space can sometimes hold up to five thousand kilograms of potatoes.”

“The way of preserving cultivated potatoes under frozen earth is a climate resilient practice which helps people in Gurez to fight extreme climatic conditions in the region and to use fresh potatoes in the winter season. The people also bury potatoes under the earth for seed purposes, as the temperature under soil remains high as compared to outside,” explained the senior scientist.

The cropping season in the Gurez valley is only four to five months, and soon after the snowfall is over, people again plant the potatoes in their agricultural fields for the next crop cycle,” he added.

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According to the agriculture scientist, Gurez valley is known for its high quality of potatoes and produces as much as 15,000 tonnes of potatoes annually. "The farmers here use decomposed farm yard manure, forest litter and plant residues to enrich the soil, and this provides essential nutrients to the potato plants," he explained.

Storing produce is of particular importance in Gurez Valley that lies at about 8,000 feet above mean sea level. For nearly six months, heavy snowfall in this area blocks the high passes and mountainous roads leading to the valley.

The produce grown here is scarce with the bulk of supplies coming from outside, making it even more imperative that what is grown here is made to stretch for as long as possible.

“Temperatures in Gurez sometimes drop below minus 20 degrees celsius and storing vegetables underground is an effective way of keeping them fresh in the winters. Our ancestors did it successfully and we do the same,” Shahmeema Begum of Bagtore village in Gurez valley told Gaon Connection.

"Potatoes are an important source of nutrition for us during the cold winters. Burying potatoes under the frozen earth is not only about keeping them fresh, but it is also a way to keep the memories of our ancestors alive, and following these traditions gives us the hope and strength to survive the bitter winters,” Mohd Niyaz, a 46-year-old farmer from Gurez valley told Gaon Connection.

According to Mohd Hussain, headman of Kilshay village in Tulail valley of Gurez said around 40,000 people of Gurez valley depended on the stored vegetables to last the winters. “Every household stores potatoes. It is their lifeline,” the 49-year-old told Gaon Connection.

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"These techniques naturally preserve potatoes, maintain their freshness and nutritional value and are cost-effective. They utilise locally available materials and minimise energy consumption,” he added.

PepsiCo, the global F&B giant, has plans to buy potatoes directly from Gurez farmers for its brand of Lay’s chips, informed Dr Bilal.