Kashmir: Saffron Production Declines, Fields Shrink; Growers Distressed

Spread on the both sides of Dusso road, a small hamlet in southern Kashmir¡¯s Pampore town- Kashmir¡¯s saffron town, some 20 kilometers from Srinagar has the fields of Crocus sativus, the flower that produces the precious spice known as saffron, or zafran by its Persian name, giving a majestic look to the area.

Cultivated and harvested in the Karewa (highlands) of Pampore, over 30,000 families in the town are associated with saffron cultivation. The term Karewa is derived from the Kashmiri dialect which means, ¡®Elevated table-land¡¯ which is highly found in the southern part of Kashmir.

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'No more high yields anymore'

Abdul Ahad Mir, 60, a saffron grower who has been in the business for the last forty years is sitting next to his fields in Dussu village and has no hopes of high yields of saffron anymore. ¡°Change in climate, poor irrigation, growing urbanization and an import of the cheaper Iranian variety have declined the saffron production in the valley rapidly,¡± Mir told Indiatimes.

Mir believes that the poor methodology opted by the government to retrieve the lost production of the crop has failed on the ground. ¡°The condition has now become so bad for us that we can¡¯t even pay the expenses of the labourers who work with us,¡± he said.

The officials of the Agriculture Department Kashmir said that saffron is grown across 3,700 hectares in Kashmir and produces 5 kgs per hectare.

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1kg saffron - Rs 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh

Azad Ahmad, 50, another grower said that one kg of saffron is sold in between 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh. ¡°The rate may vary when the same is sold by a whole sale dealer,¡± he said adding the middle men are charging them heavy costs forcing them to go for the higher rates with the customers.

Abid Khanday, the owner of Zamindar Kesar King, a retail store selling saffron on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway near Lethpora said that they have been selling one kg saffron of saffron for Rs 1.40 lakh. ¡°We are selling it on wholesale rates. We have been receiving the orders from outside the J&K and from different pharmaceutical, ayurvedic companies, restaurants and hotels,¡± he said.

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Kashmir saffron is renowned globally as a spice. It rejuvenates health and is used in cosmetics and for medicinal purposes. It has been associated with traditional Kashmiri cuisine and represents the rich cultural heritage of the region.

In J&K, four districts ¨C Pulwama, Budgam, Srinagar and Kishtwar ¨C grow saffron. Among the four, Pulwama district¡¯s Pampore has earned the title of Kashmir¡¯s ¡°saffron town¡± for growing the best quality saffron and the suitable land conditions.

¡°Many people affiliated with the sector have already switched to other sources of livelihood, abandoning their land,¡± says Syed Ziauddin, a grower from Pampore town.

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Unique Kashmir saffron

The unique characteristics of Kashmir saffron are its longer and thicker stigmas, natural deep-red colour, high aroma, bitter flavour, chemical-free processing, and high quantity of crocin (colouring strength), safranal (flavour) and picrocrocin (bitterness).

Abdul Majeed Wani, Chairman Saffron Growers Association J&K highlighted many challenges pertaining to the decline in the production of saffron in the valley. ¡°For the past 11 years, saffron growers in Pampore have been waiting for the completion of the sprinkle irrigation facility as promised by the government to boost production of saffron but nothing has been done so far,¡± he said.

¡°The sprinkle irrigation is necessary for saffron in view of drought-like conditions and global warming. Under the project, out of 125 bore wells, 50 were to be made functional by March this year but the concerned authorities have failed to do so,¡± he said.

Government¡¯s Spice Park too of no use

The government has set up Rs 40-crore Spice Park in Dussu village of Pampore as part of the National Saffron Mission, a centrally-funded Rs 410-crore project launched in 2010 to rejuvenate saffron cultivation in Kashmir but growers say it too is not of any benefit.

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Wani said that a separate division should be set up that will look after the saffron works. ¡°The spice park isn¡¯t much known to the people here and outside the valley. We demand a separate outlet should be opened so that orders can be directly taken from outside the UT and in foreign countries,¡± he said.

The saffron association head said that the supply of Iranian saffron had ruined their market. ¡°A tax of around 30 percent should be applied on its purchase in India. This will help us to increase the production,¡± Wani said.

As per officials at the Spice Park, it can store two metric tonnes of flowers for 48 hours. ¡°The process of separating the stigma, drying it scientifically and testing in the laboratory, coding and going for e-auctions take place here,¡± said an official.

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Reasons for decline

Bashir Ahmad Illayee, professor and head of Saffron Research Station of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST) in Dussu, Pampore said drought like conditions, erratic rainfall, and no irrigation are the main reasons for the decline in saffron production. ¡°Due to climate change, the pattern of rainfall has changed, which has had adverse effects on saffron,¡± he said.

However, Bashir said that the research centre is making every effort to give relief to the growers and help them to get a good quantity of saffron. ¡°We have been guiding them on several occasions. We have also started planting the Kala Jeera (Black Cumin) and almond trees for their additional income,¡± he said.

Three types of saffron

The saffron available in Kashmir is of three types ¡ª ¡®Lachha Saffron¡¯, with stigmas just separated from the flowers and dried without further processing; ¡®Mongra Saffron¡¯, in which stigmas are detached from the flower, dried in the sun and processed traditionally; and ¡®Guchhi Saffron¡¯, which is the same as Lachha, except that the latter¡¯s dried stigmas are packed loosely in air-tight containers while the former has stigmas joined together in a bundle tied with a cloth thread.

Extracting saffron from flowers

The role is in separating the delicate saffron thread from the flower. Each thread consists of three strands and each one must be picked from the flower properly. The threads are then dried in the sunlight. They also need to be spread evenly at a certain thickness on a white sheet. The strands are then preserved in a cotton cloth so air can continuously pass through to avoid the accumulation of moisture and rot. Families sit over nights to get it done.

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The flower, which blooms for a week or two around early November, is plucked after the sun rises. A seed of saffron is sowed for around four years. The cultivators have to go for the digging of land thrice before the land produces the saffron. It is done in the month of June, August and September. After four years, the old seed is removed and a new one is sowed there.

In July last year, the J&K administration had issued the certificate of geographical indication (GI) registration for saffron grown in the Kashmir valley, even as the saffron crop sees both decline in its production as well as shrinking of the land under cultivation.

What officials say

Chief Agriculture Officer Pulwama Mohammad Qasim Ghani said that annual production calculated at the end of 2020 for the costliest spice has been 13.2 metric tons. ¡°This is the highest yield in a decade for this sector in the valley. The credit for the increase in the production goes to the National Mission on Saffron launched in 2010 under which root rejuvenation of the crop and sprinkler irrigation were launched,¡± he said.

Commenting on the functioning of the Sprinkle irrigation project, the officer said that out of 109 bore wells, 57 have been made functional in Pulwama district. ¡°We are working on others too,¡± Ghani said.