Cows are popular in Arunachal Pradesh not for their milk but for their dung, which is highly valued by farmers as fertilizer for crops. While mithun (a type of cattle) have traditional significance, cows are especially worshipped by vegetable and fruit growers. An upcoming dispatch will recount a journalist's travels across Arunachal Pradesh where he learned residents highly value cows for fertilizing farms with their manure rather than any religious reasons.