Since 2014, when devastating floods ravaged most parts of Kashmir, 54-year-old Ghulam Nabi Ganaie of Pulwama’s Lethpora village has never had a profitable saffron harvest. Lack of irrigation facilities and prolonged dry weather saw his annual yield of saffron on 15 kanals of land (1.87 acres) fall by half.
The losses, however, didn’t push him to switch to apple farming unlike many farmers in his village. Ganaie knew the superiority of the saffron he grew in his fields would fetch good returns.
Now, for the first time in seven years, his saffron yield has grown by nearly 48 percent. “Last year I harvested 400 grams of saffron. Post 2014, we would witness untimely rainfall coupled with lack of adequate facilities. My annual yield, which was more than a kilogram back in the 1990s, had been reduced to just 250 grams,” he says.
Not just Ganaie, similar results in the annual yield were being witnessed by the more than 400 saffron farmers in his village.
But not this year.
“Our village grows saffron on more than 101 hectares of land. Farmers are very happy this year as their annual yield has increased followed by measures from the government to ensure better prices for saffron,” Ganaie said.
Saffron cultivation supports nearly 80 percent of the agriculturists in the UT.
The saffron yield in 2021 has touched a two-decade high of 15.04 metric tonnes (MT), courtesy the Rs 400 crore National Saffron Mission and Geographic Indication tagging by the government.
Saffron cultivation is an important contributor to the Union Territory’s agriculture sector, which is the main occupation of around 80 percent of its population.
Saffron land stretches to 3,715 hectares and is cultivated mainly in three districts: Pulwama, Srinagar and Budgam. Pampore, a township in Pulwama district with around 3,200 hectares of land under cultivation, produces the most saffron in the Valley.
Srinagar and Budgam cultivate saffron on 165 and 300 hectares, respectively; Kishtwar is the only district in the Jammu division to grow the spice on 50 hectares of land.
Reducing stigma
Saffron cultivation entails much hard work and patience — when the purple harvest arrives in autumn, the flowers are plucked and the crimson red stigma removed and dried for days until it shrinks to the size of a slender thread. One stigma of saffron weighs about 2 mg and on average each flower has three stigmata.
Saffron flowers in full bloom.
Kashmiri saffron is of superior quality because of the higher concentration of crocin, a carotenoid pigment that gives saffron its colour and medicinal value. Its crocin content is 8.72 percent compared to the Iranian variant’s 6.82 percent, which gives it a darker colour and enhanced medicinal value.
Given that the autumn and winter season witnessed a good amount of rainfall, growers expect a bigger harvest in the coming year.
“We are hopeful to see an even better yield in the saffron crop this year,” says Abdul Majeed Wani, a saffron grower and president of the All J&K Saffron Growers Development Cooperative Marketing Association.
National Saffron Mission and increase in production
The last time Kashmir recorded an annual yield of 15 MT saffron was in 1996, when the average yield was 2.80 kg per hectare while the cultivated area was 5,707 hectares.
Till 2010, saffron production declined by 35 percent (10.40MT) as the area under cultivation shrank to a mere 3,715 hectares.
Realising that the costliest spice of the world was getting extinct from Kashmir, the Ministry of Agriculture implemented the Rs 400.11 crore National Saffron Mission.
While the cultivated land couldn’t be revived under the mission, however, the government was successful in increasing the production of saffron in Kashmir.
In the first year of the Mission’s implementation, production stood at 10.03 MT, with an average yield of 2.69 kg per hectare.
Under the Mission, Department of Agriculture–Kashmir developed infrastructure, including 124 borewells and 126 sprinkler systems, and introduced modern integrated methods of farming.
By 2020, production increased to 13.36 MT with an average yield of 4.92 kg per hectare.
Also read: The making of a precious spice
“Farmers would mostly rely on traditional methods like use of ploughs and manual de-weeding. The department convinced farmers to shift to scientific farming, which helped us double our production,” says Sajad Ahmad, a saffron grower from Pulwama.
Saffron growers association President Wani says the use of borewells and sprinklers will enhance production. “The irrigation component is not complete yet as the borewells have not been put to use. Water scarcity is the main problem, which, if resolved, will certainly double our production,” he says.
Department of Agriculture Kashmir Director Chaudhary Mohammad Iqbal says that the department extended services like interculture operations and inter-nutrient management in saffron cultivation under the mission to boost production.
“Management of land, quality of seeds, supplement-integrated nutrients and pest management was ensured on modern lines to help growers enhance production,” he says
National Saffron Mission launched in 2011 gave farmers access to better technologies and improved productivity.
Geographic indication and Timely rainfall
Prior to 2020, India was the fourth-largest importer of Iranian saffron and had imported saffron worth $18.30 million from Iran, according to the Trade Promotion Council of India.
Up to 48 percent cheaper than the Kashmiri variety, Iranian saffron commands 95 percent of the world market.
The Iranian varieties, sold at Rs 1 lakh per kg, had an impact on the price of high-quality Kashmiri saffron, the rates of which declined to Rs 1 lakh per kg from Rs 2-3 lakh in 2007.
This invasion of cheaper Iranian saffron into markets in India and worldwide had discouraged many Kashmir farmers from investing in saffron cultivation.
In 2020, the Geographical Indication Registry approved GI tagging on the saffron with GI no 635 to preserve high-quality Kashmiri saffron.
“A GI mark was the only way to distinguish it on shop shelves. This was the last hope for the growers,” says Wani.
Javed Ahmad of Sampora Pampore was among the farmers who got his saffron produce registered with India International Kashmir Saffron Trading Centre, Dussu, also known as Spice park.
From separation of the stigma to drying ,testing and grading, his saffron got a GI tag. “Prior to GI tagging my saffron would cost just Rs 1 lakh/kg. Now, its price has doubled and it is sold under my brand name,” he says.
Javed says the GI tagging facility has contributed to growth in production of saffron in the valley. “Farmers were encouraged to take care of their crops and used various methods to increase their yield,” he says.
Last year the majority of farmers from Javed’s village got their saffron produce registered with the India International Kashmir Saffron Trading Centre for better returns.
As per the agriculture department, the GI tag broke down the hegemony of Iranian saffron in India and international markets.
From processing accredited laboratories, grower-seller meets and e-auctioning of the saffron, the GI tag has helped the growers get better returns.
Apart from the GI Tag, what provided the icing on the cake was the favourable weather last year.
Thirty-five-year-old Fayaz Ahmad would always have a good crop of saffron as all his saffron corms would grow without fail. Later, the dearth in rainfall affected his crop and his output fell by nearly 40 per cent.
Last year, however, timely rainfall helped Fayaz harvest the crop without any failure. “It was for the first time that my produce touched 700 grams. All the farmers in my village have had a better crop,” he says.
Wani says that the favourable weather conditions last year helped the majority of growers witness improved production. “Even the borewells, which were built under the National Saffron Mission, were not used. Saffron requires showers in the months of August, September and October, which the valley witnessed on time,” he says.
Director of Agriculture Chaudhary Mohammad says the timely rains helped the crop retain moisture for a longer duration. “Before flowers developed we had enough rain and it really worked to maintain a water balance for the crop for the rest of the months,” he says.
Indoor plantation
Wani last year volunteered to participate in a Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) effort to grow saffron under controlled conditions.
He planted 400 kg of seeds in small trays in a room of 10 feet length and 12 feet width.
The results, he said, were promising as a better yield of saffron was possible in a smaller space. “A team of experts has surveyed it repeatedly and they are positive about the results. It yielded up to 300 grams of saffron, which otherwise is grown on 10-15 kanals of land,” he says.
The indoor plantation is being seen as a major breakthrough in the cultivation of saffron as experts believe it can boost the annual yield in Kashmir multiple times.
Bashir Ahmad Illahi, Convener of the saffron project at SKUAST, says the indoor farming of saffron will be very effective in meeting the national demand for the spice.
“The project was very successful as two growers were very keen to adopt this farming last year. We used the vertical expansion technology through which saffron seeds were grown in a room under controlled conditions to give a better yield than outdoor farming,” Ilahi says. He added that for a bigger output and productivity levels indoor growers need the knowledge to use light in the right way.
Explaining the process, Illahi said the saffron, through advanced methods, can be cultivated in trays in a closed room. “A farmer would need a 20/20 room and almost 370 trays to accommodate five quintals of seed. This process involves a multi-tier system as the farming begins in August and then the corm requires 80-90 days of dark. Between October 10-15 flowering will start and harvesting will begin in November,” he says.
The Agriculture Department Director says the climate of Kashmir is best suited to produce high-quality saffron through indoor farming. “The saffron corms have a chilling requirement of 900-110 hours, which is very normal in Kashmir. Even a person who has no land can make use of this technology,” he says.
Pandemic worry
The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) has accorded accreditation to the Pampore-based India International Kashmir Saffron Trading Centre (IIKSTC), giving a much-needed fillip to saffron exports.
However, amid the increased production, what farmers fear the most is reduced demand for saffron due to the pandemic. The growers claim that the pandemic has caused losses in the last two years. “There was a lockdown and many of our growers didn’t get orders for saffron,” says Abdul Gani, a saffron grower.
Wani claims that currently, 50-60 kg of saffron is still unsold at Spice Park. Growers say that due to the closure of markets in many European cities, exports of the spice took a hit.
“During the last two years, when international flights were cancelled, our international demand reduced. Now, the omicron-led wave has forced the closure of markets in various countries that are our potential buyers,” says Rashid Ahmad, a grower from Pampore.
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