The Tripuri khum: a bamboo granary that outsmarts the rodents

The khum, the raised bamboo granary of the Tripuri people, was engineered by centuries of trial: a platform on stilts, a flared collar that rodents cannot climb, and a roof that sheds the monsoon.

The design is returning as villages rediscover the cost of modern storage — and agronomists are studying the khum’s passive ventilation.

Elders are pleased but unsurprised: ‘Our grandfathers did not need a degree to build a better granary.’