The Hindu Business Line : Rang de Kashmir

Come Autumn, when elsewhere flowers start to dry up and plants shed leaves, in Kashmir millions of saffron flowers bloom out of the barren looking land in the Pampore area.

This contrast is so striking that people travelling along the busy National Highway just can’t keep their eyes off the thousands of acres of flowering fields.

The magnificently blue coloured saffron flowers are the prized cash-crop of Kashmir. Being one of the world’s costliest spices, it is used both in cooking and in the production of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. In Kashmir, it is the main ingredient of Kong Qahwa, a traditional tea, and is used as colouring agent in Wazwan, a local dish.

The saffron plant remains underground for most of the year and its delicate flowers bloom only during late October-November. This year the saffron crop has been good as compared to the previous years.

Equally exciting has been the start of the annual Saffron Fair in Kashmir. Initiated by the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation, the fair has been a hit among tourists.

For tourists drawn by the scenic valley’s streams and mountains, the saffron bloom has been a sweet addition.

Thousands of tourists are flocking to these saffron fields located just outside Srinagar city for a glimpse of the flowers. They also enjoy watching men, women and children picking the flowers.

“I was thrilled to see the saffron field. I am seeing something like this for the first time in my life,” gushes Usha Sharma, a tourist from Uttar Pradesh. Accompanied by her husband and children, she clicked dozens of photos.

Kashmiri Newz

Tourists flock to catch a glipmse.

Enthralled by the huge response to the saffron fair, the State tourism corporation decided to make it an annual affair.

Sarmad Hafeez, Joint Director, Tourism, Jammu and Kashmir, says, “JKTDC has been campaigning for holding the saffron fair and it has become a huge hit among tourists. From next year, we have decided to organise a weeklong festival. We will go for a massive advertising campaign in advance, so that more people will come to know about it and participate in the festival.”

There are also plans to hold the saffron fair on full-moon nights, to capitalise on the beautiful moonlit landscape. “Just as Taj Mahal looks beautiful during full-moon nights, same is the case with saffron flowers, they look stunning during these nights,” says Abdul Hamid, a saffron grower in Pampore.

Kashmir’s saffron is reputedly among the world’s best and considered even ahead of those produced by Iran and Spain.

The name saffron is derived from the Arabic zaffran, which means ‘to turn yellow’, due to the saffron’s property of imparting a deep-yellow colour. Due to its limited yield the Kashmiri saffron commands a high price; in recent times the price is around Rs 1.2 lakh a kg, against Rs 1 lakh a kg for Iranian saffron.

Saffron growers too are happy at the latest developments. They see tourism as a good means of augmenting income. Ghulam Mohammed, President of Saffron Growers Association of Jammu and Kashmir, says, “It will be a complementary process. Saffron fair will help in increasing tourist inflow and that will in turn shoot up the demand of saffron along with its price.”

Saffron cultivation is a very tedious process and involves lot of human effort. It is the dried stigmas of the saffron flower that find use. The flowers are handpicked and the stigmas removed from them. On average one kg of saffron requires collection of 1.75 lakh flowers. The process of growing and harvesting saffron has remained unchanged over 2,000 years.

Saffron cultivation has suffered in recent times owing to several reasons. These include inadequate irrigation facilities, persistent drought, absence of modern farming techniques and increased pollution due to adjacent cement factories and the National Highway. According to available data, previously an acre yielded 2.5 kg of saffron, compared to 900 grams today. Nearly 10,000 farmers are associated with saffron cultivation and they are finding the going tough. During the past two decades, land under saffron has decreased from about 5,000 hectares to less than 3,000 hectares. To arrest the trend, the government is working on a project report for the revival of saffron crop.

One hopes the project will help revive the old glory of Kashmir’s saffron.

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