National Saffron Mission ‘fails’ to achieve results

National Saffron Mission started almost a decade ago to boost the production of the prized product in Kashmir valley, has failed to achieve the desired results with the growers claiming that the Mission instead of doing any good to them has harmed their interests.

The Rs 400 crore Mission, a government of India funded scheme was launched in 2011 with much fanfare with the objective of increasing saffron production, quality, and boosting the growers’ income by doubling it.

The revival programme was aimed 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.

However, according to the growers, the production has only decreased in recent years. “Earlier my annual yield was over 1000 grams of saffron but after the Mission came it declined to 500 grams or less. Crores of rupees were spent for rejuvenation but on the ground the results are nil,” said Ghulam Qadir, a grower from Pampore.

Questioning the establishment of Saffron Park, he asked what is fun is when there is no seed in the field. “We have no alternative now and some growers have switched over to other types of cultivation in the saffron land’’, he said and added that growers in some villages have started cultivating vegetables in their fields as Saffron Mission has dashed their hopes to the ground.

Even the former Finance Minister of J&K Haseeb Drabu while expressing his concern over the plight of saffron growers in January 2018 had advised them to shift to the traditional system of cultivation as the mission had miserably failed to achieve the desired results.

An official of the J&K Agriculture Department on the condition of anonymity said that the scheme couldn’t be implemented properly as there were massive frauds in it. “Common growers didn’t get their due and it was influential people only who were beneficiaries of the scheme,” he said.

However, Director Agriculture Kashmir, Altaf Andrabi while terming the Mission a ‘great success’ said that maximum growers were benefitted. “Journalists from India and abroad have come to witness the progress and results of the Mission. It is an innovative and scientific method giving good results,” he said.

Andrabi said in 2017-2018 due to a dry spell some damage might have been done to corms but there was a good snowfall in 2019-20 and the yield has multiplied. “It is a scientifically designed programme so it can’t be wrong,” he added.

Out of the 3715 hectares of land under saffron cultivation in Kashmir, about 3200 hectares is in Pampore Tehsil of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district while 300 hectares is in Budgam district, 165 in Srinagar, and 65 in Kishtwar district of Jammu region.

Known for its special aroma, saffron is a powerful flavouring and colouring agent. Many people also use 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 region 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.