ABSTRACT
AT first sight the Apa Tani valley appears as a self-contained economic unit, distinct and largely isolated from the surrounding Dafla and Miri country. But this first impression is deceptive, and closer scrutiny reveals that even before 1944 the Apa Tanis were self-sufficient only in so far as their requirements of food-grain and vegetables were concerned. For the supply of animals for slaughter as well as for several raw materials needed by their craftsmen they depended on trade with neighbouring tribes and even with the populations of the plains of Assam. Their main export has always been rice, for a system of agriculture combining optimal exploitation of the limited land with indefinite preservation of soil fertility enables the Apa Tanis to produce sufficient food for themselves, as well as a surplus which constitutes not only a broad margin of safety but is normally available for barter. Despite the lack of animal traction and ploughs Apa Tani agriculture has advanced beyond the stage of subsistence farming. On an average every man working on the land produces more grain than he consumes; the balance can be spared for feeding craftsmen and a small class of wealthy men, engaged more in the tasks of social and political leadership than in manual work, as well as for sale or exchange for commodities not produced or in short supply in the Apa Tani country.
