Saffron making way for apple orchards

Growers feel that continuing with saffron cultivation may affect their children's future

It is a disturbing trend because farmers are shifting from saffron cultivation to apple despite it being one of the costliest eatable commodity in the market. Pure kesar or saffron is a much sought- after commodity and is always in demand in domestic and international markets.

Saffron cultivation has been witnessing a declining trend in the last one decade despite the prices moving northwards steadily. In a bid to boost saffron production in Kashmir, the Centre has implemented a Rs 3.76-billion package under the National Saffron Mission (NSM). But that seems to have not enthused the growers as they complain that their produce does not get them handsome returns.

“We don’t get remunerative prices for our produ­ce, which has forced us to shift to apple cultivation. I have 12 kanals (1.5 acres) of land on which I cultivate saffron. But what I earn is peanuts,” Ghulam Jeelani Masoodi, a grower in Pampore, told Deccan Herald.  “We are now shifting to apple to make the future of our children safe. We fear the saffron cultivation may worsen our financial position,” he added.

Masoodi complained that prices and yield have both declined over the years. “Some years ago saffron would sell at lucrative prices. Now, the prices have come down sharply and we hardly manage to feed our families and send our children to school,” he said and added the saffron yield has dropped from 3.1 kg per hectare (about 2.8 lb per acre) to 2.3 kg per hectare (2 lb per acre).

A few years back, the Centre launched the NSM to give a boost to saffron industry in the state. The revival programme aims to employ scientific techniques to rejuvenate saffron bulbs, as well as to provide groundwater irrigation through borewells and sprinklers, power tillers and a high-tech saffron park with mechanised processing as well as a testing laboratory and e-trading facility.  The target is to double saffron production by 2014. The programme was launched after the Prime Minister’s Office took initiatives to boost the economy of the state.

Asked whether the NSM helped the growers, they said: “The scheme couldn’t be implemented properly by the state government and there has been massive fraud in it. Common growers didn’t get their due and it was influential people only who were beneficiaries of the scheme.” The reason for decrease in demand for Kashmiri saffron has been also due to adulteration by some unscrupulous elements.

Wahid Ahmad Wani, a grower, said some selfish persons mix the man-made saffron with the original one to make fast bucks.“This has brought a bad name to the entire industry. Even the tourists hesitate to buy our original saffron saying that they have the experience of buying artificial saffron from Kashmiris at very high rates,” he said.

Abdul Rashid Khan, who sells saffron, walnuts and other dry fruits at a makeshift shop on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway near Pampore, said there was a time when there was a huge demand from tourists for saffron. “But now the situation is not the same. Hardly, a few tourists now come to us for purchasing saffron,” he added.

Middlemen make a killing

“The rates of one gram saffron range from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 in the local market. However, the growers sell the product at almost half the price. It is middlemen who make huge profits. The prized product sells at from Rs 2,000 to 3,000 a gm outside Kashmir markets,” he added.

Just a decade and half ago, saffron covered 5,700 hectares (about 14,000 acres) of Jammu and Kashmir, but the cultivated area has now dropped by half. Firdos Nehvi, a professor of plant breeding and genetics at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology (SKUAST), said changes in temperature and rain patterns since 1999 have had a significant impact on saffron production. “Over the last one decade, annual precipitation has declined from 80 to 100 cm  to 60 to 80 cm. Not just the quantity but the seasonal pattern of rainfall too has changed, because the (previous) temperature pattern has changed,” he said.

Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, an associate professor in the geology and geophysics department at Kashmir University, ascribed it to melting glaciers, high levels of particulate pollution from industrial units and cement factories operating in neighbouring villages of Pampore saffron belt since the early 1980s. “Impurities like cement dust and the trapped warm air from industries melt snow faster in this area,” he said.

Jammu and Kashmir’s Agriculture Minister

Ghulam Hassan Mir said the project will completely change the present situation. “So far, there has been 100 per cent success and we are with the target. We are in the infancy stage and the production will increase in the coming years. We are sure about it. When production increases, growers will also get good returns for their hard work,” Mir told Deccan Herald.

However, he accepted that some problems in the implementation of the scheme due to cost escalation. “We have taken up the issue with the Centre and recently the Cabinet Secretary agreed that the issue would be sorted out,” the Minister said and added in second phase focus would be on marketing of the product.

Known for its special aroma, saffron is a powerful flavouring and colouring agent. Many people also use the spice as an aphrodisiac. As a medicine, saffron is used to cure lower fever, help reduce cramps and enlarged livers and to calm the nerves. It is used as a potion externally for bruises, rheumatism and neuralgia.

Although Spain is the world’s largest exporter of saffron, the best quality still comes from Kashmir. Kashmir’s climate has made it well suited to the complex growing and blooming cycle of the saffron crocus, and the state is the only one in India that produces saffron.

Saffron flowers are normally harves­ted in October and November. Cutting the saffron flowers and hand-picking and drying the stigma and stamen are tasks traditionally done by women and children.