On autumn mornings in Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng district, families head into the forest carrying woven bamboo baskets. They are not looking for timber or firewood.
Instead, they are searching for a thorny shrub that has quietly shaped local food, medicine and trade for generations.
Known locally as Khagi, Erma, Shyein or Yarma, depending on the tribe and region, Zanthoxylum is a wild Himalayan spice whose tiny fruits release a sharp citrus aroma followed by a tingling numbness on the tongue.
Long before it found buyers beyond the mountains, it flavoured meat curries, chutneys and millet dishes in tribal homes. Its bark, fruits and seeds were also used in indigenous healing traditions.
Khagi tastes citrusy, sharp, and peppery. It has a strong aroma resembling lemon or grapefruit. Photograph: (WWF-India)
Today, that same spice is helping protect more than 100 sq km of community-owned forests.
The transformation did not happen overnight.
Over the past few years, WWF India has been working with Indigenous communities and traditional village institutions to strengthen Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) across Arunachal Pradesh.
Community Conserved Areas are natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and grasslands that are voluntarily protected and managed by Indigenous and local communities. Their stewardship helps conserve habitats, wildlife and biodiversity while ensuring forests continue to support local livelihoods.
One of the strongest examples has emerged in the Mandala Phudung Khellong Community Conserved Area (CCA) in West Kameng district.
Here, villagers have linked the future of their forests with the future of Khagi.
Community Conserved Areas are natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and grasslands that are voluntarily protected and managed by Indigenous and local communities. Photograph: (WWF-India)
By creating a community-led system to sustainably harvest, aggregate and market the spice, they have turned a native forest species into a source of income that rewards conservation rather than extraction.
Today, every kilogram of Khagi sold contributes towards forest patrols, biodiversity monitoring and community welfare, giving people a direct economic reason to keep thousands of hectares of forest standing.
A forest owned by its people
Arunachal Pradesh is unlike most states in India when it comes to forests.
Nearly 80% of its geographical area is under forest cover, while more than 60% of these forests are classified as Unclassed State Forests, remaining under the de facto custodianship of Indigenous communities and traditional institutions.
The state is also one of India’s richest biodiversity landscapes. It is home to two global biodiversity hotspots, over a quarter of India’s plant species, the country’s highest mammalian diversity and more than 1,600 high-altitude lakes.
That community ownership makes local decisions especially important.
#DidYouKnow Zanthoxylum, locally known as Khagei or Zabrang, is an essential condiment in the Monpa area of Western Arunachal Pradesh. It is part of the local diet and used as chutney and pickle.
Read more about the partnership here: https://t.co/g8UGhkvUMMpic.twitter.com/U19AtBDUKs
— WWF-India (@WWFINDIA) March 21, 2020
Across Arunachal Pradesh, many villages have voluntarily established Community Conserved Areas, where Indigenous communities decide how forests should be used, which activities should be restricted and how benefits should be shared.
Unlike government-declared protected areas, these forests are governed through community consensus.
However, as communities gradually shift from subsistence livelihoods to cash-based economies, many traditional governance systems have weakened. Expanding roads and infrastructure have also fragmented fragile mountain habitats.
The CCA model offers a different path — one where economic opportunities strengthen conservation instead of replacing it.
The spice that was already there
Khagi did not arrive with a conservation project.
The shrub has always grown naturally across abandoned agricultural fields and adjoining forests around Mandala.
For generations, families harvested enough for their kitchens and sold the surplus in nearby markets.
Its history stretches back even further.
Communities in Kalaktang and Dirang once supplied the aromatic spice as tribute to the Tsona Dzong and Tawang Monastery. From there, it travelled across mountain passes such as Bumla into Tibet, becoming part of long-standing Himalayan trade routes.
Despite its cultural and commercial importance, however, the trade remained fragmented.
Families harvested individually, while traders from Tezpur, Guwahati and elsewhere purchased produce directly from villages, often offering different prices.
Only the outer husk had commercial demand. The seeds were usually discarded because there was no market for them.
The result was limited bargaining power, little value addition and no collective investment in the forests where the spice naturally grew.
Turning harvest into conservation
Things began to change in 2019.
Supported by WWF India under the Community Conserved Area framework, villagers organised themselves to collectively harvest, aggregate and market Khagi. The initiative also established direct market linkages with companies such as Dabur India, allowing communities to sell both the husk and the seeds instead of treating part of the harvest as waste.
The change went far beyond marketing.
Every August, as the harvesting season begins, families head into the forests to handpick ripe Khagi from shrubs growing across abandoned farmlands and adjoining forest patches.
Back home, the fruits are spread out under the sun to dry for several days before being sorted and sold.
Not every harvest reaches the market.
“Our partnership with companies has made a significant difference by bringing a reliable market for Khagi right to our doorstep,” says Phurpu, a member of the Mandala Phudung Khellong CCA Management Committee. Photograph: (WWF-India)
Many families keep aside a portion for their own kitchens, where Khagi has long been a staple ingredient. It is ground into chutneys with tomatoes, local onions, fermented soybean, chhurpi and chillies, adding its signature citrusy heat to rice, smoked meat and seasonal vegetables.
Today, that familiar seasonal ritual also contributes to protecting the forests that have sustained these communities for generations.
During the last two harvesting seasons, between 2024 and 2026, communities sold more than 10 metric tonnes of Zanthoxylum, benefiting over 200 households and generating a turnover of around Rs 39 lakh.
Around Rs 6 lakh was contributed to the Community Conserved Area Management Fund.
It is a cycle the community designed for itself.
“Our partnership with companies has made a significant difference by bringing a reliable market for Khagi right to our doorstep,” says Phurpu, a member of the Mandala Phudung Khellong CCA Management Committee.
“Earlier, traders from Assam and other parts of the state offered different prices. Now, community members can sell their harvest within the village at a fair and uniform price through one transparent transaction.”
The benefits, however, differ from one household to another.
Families in Mandala Phudung Khellong do not depend on Khagi alone. Most also cultivate kiwi, tomatoes, cabbage, beans and other seasonal crops, making the spice one part of a broader livelihood.
According to community members who spoke to The Better India, households that primarily depend on farming earn around Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 from Khagi during a harvesting season, while their annual farm income generally ranges between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000, depending on the scale of cultivation.
“For many years, every family sold Khagi on its own, and we never knew what price others were getting or where the produce finally went,” says Pem Choijang, the Gaonburah (traditional village headman) of Mandala Phudung village Photograph: (WWF-India)
For families harvesting larger quantities, the returns are higher.
The additional income helps meet household expenses and purchase seeds and farm inputs for the next season.
Rather than replacing agriculture, Khagi has become an important supplementary source of income — one that also gives communities a direct stake in keeping their forests healthy.
Rules that came from the village
Income alone cannot conserve forests.
Alongside the new value chain, the community developed a management plan to protect biodiversity.
Working with the traditional Mangma institution and Panchayati Raj Institutions, the CCA Management Committee established rules restricting hunting, regulating resource use and prohibiting commercial extraction unless sustainable management practices had been approved.
Funds generated through Khagi marketing, together with technical and financial support from WWF India and the Forest Department, now support regular forest patrols and biodiversity monitoring.
For village elders, transparency has been just as important as income.
“For many years, every family sold Khagi on its own, and we never knew what price others were getting or where the produce finally went,” says Pem Choijang, the Gaonburah (traditional village headman) of Mandala Phudung village.
“Different traders offered different prices, so there was little transparency and very little bargaining power. I have seen how things have changed over the years.
“We can now collectively market Khagi at a uniform price through a transparent process agreed upon by the Mangma and the CCA Management Committee.
“The income doesn’t stop with individual households. It also supports forest protection, biodiversity monitoring and village welfare. That has changed the way people look at our forests. They are no longer just places where we collect resources — they are something we all share the responsibility to protect.”
The system has also enabled communities to engage more actively in discussions around road alignments that minimise impacts on forests and wildlife habitats.
A forest worth keeping intact
The Mandala Phudung Khellong Community Conserved Area borders Bhutan’s Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, creating an important transboundary conservation landscape.
Its forests provide habitat and movement corridors for species including the clouded leopard, Asian golden cat, marbled cat, Himalayan black bear, red panda, large Indian civet, Arunachal macaque, capped langur, goral and Himalayan serow. Pheasants have also been recorded within the landscape.
The forests are equally important for people.
Medicinal and economically valuable plants such as Swertia chirayita, Illicium griffithii, Rubia cordifolia, Paris polyphylla and Zanthoxylum continue to support traditional healthcare systems and local livelihoods.
We work to explore the potential of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) collected from the forests of Mandala Phudung Khellong CCA (MPKCCA) and establish market linkages. Six main NTFPs were identified as species & harvested for commercial purposes. pic.twitter.com/6CSYCwZKvJ
— WWF-India (@WWFINDIA) March 21, 2020
While formal impact studies are still underway, communities report more frequent sightings of wildlife, including red pandas, alongside visible forest recovery.
Just as important, conservation-linked livelihoods have strengthened local stewardship.
Income from sustainable harvesting is now reinvested into patrolling, biodiversity monitoring and implementing community rules.
Instead of seeing forests only as land to be converted, communities increasingly see intact ecosystems as assets that continue generating livelihoods year after year.
A different conservation story
For decades, conservation has often been framed as a choice between protecting forests and supporting local livelihoods.
Mandala Phudung Khellong tells a completely different story.
The community did not introduce an exotic crop or replace forests with plantations. Instead, it built an economy around a species that already belonged to the landscape and had long been part of local culture.
That decision transformed Khagi from a household spice into a reason to keep forests standing.
