Saffron farming boosts tourism at 'Kashmir of the south' in Kerala

‘Many tourists are coming to my farm to see the saffron. But the flowers are already harvested,’ says farmer Ramamoorthy from Kanthalloor, which is in Idukki district.

Thiruvananthapuram: As saffron bloomed, the picturesque Kanthalloor near Munnar hill station in Kerala, popularly known as the 'Kashmir of the south', drew more tourists.

Already, a host of fruits like apple, orange, blackberry and strawberry are being cultivated in the region that boasts of a climate similar to Kashmir. Hence, the region has been emerging as a hotspot for farm tourism. 

With saffron also being grown successfully in the region — a recent development — Kanthalloor has received more tourist interest. Kanthalloor recently won the 'gold award' from the Centre for best rural tourism project, which also gave a boost to the high-range village's tourism potential.

"Earlier, mostly people who‘d come to Munnar only used to come to Kanthalloor, which is around 50 kilometres away. But these days many tourists, mostly from within India, are coming to visit Kanthalloor alone," Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission coordinator Rupesk Kumar K told DH, adding that there is a considerable increase in the tourist flow during this Christmas-New Year season.

Many tourists visiting Kanthalloor, which is in Idukki district,  these days are curiously visiting the saffron farm. However, since the flowers were already harvested they are a bit disappointed.

"Many tourists are coming to my farm to see the saffron. But the flowers are already harvested," says farmer Ramamoorthy, who  cultivated saffron with the support of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) under the ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute.

Since KVK is planning to cultivate saffron in more farms in Kanthalloor as well as nearby locations, it will be a boost to Kanthaloor's tourism in the dues course, he added.

Kanthalloor panchayat president P T Mohandas said that already a major chunk of tourists visiting Kanthalloor were keen to see various fruits and vegetable farms in the region. Hence saffron is definitely an added attraction. The region also has a host of farm tourism centres providing accommodation at farms.

Kanthalloor received the 'Gold' award in the best rural tourism project category for Kerala tourism's STREET (Sustainable, Tangible, Responsible, Experiential, Ethnic, Tourism) project. It envisaged tourism projects that suit the culture and topography of each region. Kanthalloor also implemented women-friendly tourism and introduced  special women tour packages to encourage female solo travellers and female-only tour groups.