A few years back, the Central and State Governments launched the National Saffron Mission to prevent the declining production of saffron in the Valley. Two years down the line, the scheme has not shown much and farmers blame the Mission for their plight. To top that, the devastating floods in September have added to their woes. KHURSHEED WANI tells you how this platinum spice has been spelling doom for its growers
In Safar, the second month of the Islamic calendar, Pampore in the Kashmir Valley switches to celebration mode. On the fifth and 21st day of this month, two festivals are celebrated at the central shrine of Shogabab Sahib. Though the population of the town becomes strictly vegetarian on the two occasions following in the footsteps of the saint, the celebrations are not limited. Marketplaces are bedecked, womenfolk go on a shopping spree and children find limitless amusement in the lanes of the congested town.
But this year, the two festivals in November-end and mid-December were subdued. The town wore a deserted look. Children found the merry-go-rounds but not the enthusiasm to have fun. What changed in this affluent town on the southern outskirts of SrinagarIJ The driving force of its affluence — the rare saffron flowers (crocus sativus) — were missing this time. The September floods which wreaked havoc in most of the Valley and devastated the State capital, did not spare this town as well. The ferocious Jhelum breached into Pampore and razed houses and marketplaces. At that time, people least expected that the incessant rain that swelled the Jhelum would bring on another devastation that would unfold two months later.
When in the last week of October, the saffron-growers of Pampore went to pluck the fresh flowers from the swatches of land around town and adjacent villages, they thought that the bloom was late by a few days. Every morning they plucked a few flowers hoping that the next day, their wicker baskets would be full. But when even in November-end, there was no bloom, the hapless farmers finally gave up hope.
“This year, the saffron crop has failed due to the incessant rains in September. Against a requirement of 89 mm rainfall, we received 283 mm that killed the corms,” Dr Shaheena Nago, expert in plant breeding and genetics, said. The loss is approximately 80 per cent. “The rains water-logged the saffron fields for an extended period changing the crop biology and causing hormonal imbalance in plants,” Prof Firdous Ahmad Nehvi, head of the Saffron Station at Dussu who monitors newest research in saffronology, explained.
The sprawling station on two acres of saffron land came up after the Central Government announced the ambitious Rs376 crore National Saffron Mission in August 2010 aiming at a transformation of the saffron industry from production to consumption. The funding for the three-year project was later revised to Rs411 crore with a one-year extension. However, the objective of the project remains unfulfilled and this Autumn’s failed crop means that the managers will seek another extension. By now, one-third of the amount has been invested but the results are largely intangible.
The Saffron Mission was introduced to safeguard and multiply the production of this golden condiment that offers the Valley pride of place on the world map. On an annual average, the Valley produces 12,500 kg saffron which is largely used in medicines and South-Asian cuisine. Saffron actually is the dried reddish-purple stigma painstakingly collected from billions of flowers blooming in autumn on 4,500 hectares of land spread over 200 villages of Pampore belt.
Over 17,000 farmers are involved in growing this expensive crop and half of the families live in and around the endangered heritage site at Pampore. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (Rome) named Pampore as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System. The International Forum on Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems conferred the rare status to Pampore in its Beijing conference in June 2011. Though, saffron is grown in parts of Budgam in central Kashmir Valley and Kishtwar in Jammu province too, 74 per cent saffron land is in Pampore and its periphery.
But despite these positive developments, the scenario has not been encouraging. This year’s production loss may be an exception but over the years, the average has reduced to half. The cultivable land has shrunk to 3,600 hectares and the prices are not picking up. This year, a kg is selling for Rs1,44,000 on a slow moving market. The Kashmiri saffron is marketed in two grades — lacha (saffron in filaments) and mongra (saffron in cut filaments). Mongra is the purest form.
“Incessant droughts in the last two decades, lack of scientific crop methodology and transformation of cultivable land into residential colonies has had a damning effect on saffron production”, revealed senior officer of Department of Agriculture Nigeen Ahmad that oversees the implementation of Saffron Mission in collaboration with the scientists of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir (SKUAST-K).
It was in this backdrop that the Manmohan Singh Government had introduced the National Saffron Mission. Interestingly, it was launched when the Valley was burning in the aftermath of the killing of four civilians in an encounter along the line of Control in Macchil sector of north Kashmir. The Commanding Officer of an Army battalion had conspired with four soldiers to kill the civilians and pass them off as foreign mercenaries to win accolades and ranks. The soldiers were recently given life imprisonment. More than a 100 protesters and bystanders were killed by police and paramilitary forces to quell an uprising that threatened the Omar Abdullah Government at that time.
Pampore was the epicentre of a 2010 rebellion wherein protesters set ablaze a magistrate’s office and blocked the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway for several days. In the nearby Khrew locality, protesters torched a police station in retaliation to killing three civilians, including a woman. The Saffron Mission was part of Centre’s policy to reach out to the population of the Valley. “I was astonished to see the speed with which the Mission received approval the Prime Minister’s Office,” a senior scientist who contributed to the basic project report on Economic Revival of J&K Saffron Sector said.
The Mission has set goals. It envisages to expand the area under cultivation, create irrigation sources, multiply quality seed corms in public sector farms, improve post-harvest handling practices (through an awareness campaign among the farmers about the benefits of picking flowers at the right stage and separating stigma and style in shortest possible time), popularising solar dryers for ensuring optimum moisture content to preserve quality during storage, promotion of grading, quality testing at farm gate and transfer of improved technologies through training and other demonstrative methods.
However, the implementation has been sluggish. Researchers have established that the primary cause for the falling yield was the cultivable land turning senile and the corms encountering multitude threats, including ageing and unscientific sowing. Therefore, the foremost task identified was to rejuvenate the 3,715 hectares under modern technology. The Agriculture Department paid Rs25,400 to farmers for every kanal (one-eighth of a hectare) of land to replace corms and plant them in lines. Till date, only 1,800 hectares have been rejuvenated.
The other staggering problem was lack of a proper irrigation system. The crop requires soil moisture during September to initiate timely growth of roots and floral shoots. However, it depends on the sweet will of weather gods to bestow the moisture at an appropriate time. If they turn hostile, the crop suffers immensely. The drought conditions in 2001 and 2002 drastically reduced yield.
To overcome this issue, the project has embarked on a mission to establish 128 tubewells and distribution of 3,715 sprinkle sets. The Government has fully invested in bore wells, each costing around Rs20 lakh, to be built on land provided by the farmers. The sprinkle sets would be given on 50 per cent subsidy. Ironically, the Mechanical Division of the State Irrigation Department was asked to dig wells but they did not comply speedily as per the requirement. Result, even if 100 wells are in the process of completion, only one of them has been commissioned.
Adulteration is another big problem plaguing the cash crop. A few years ago, the police unearthed a clandestine factory manufacturing fake saffron. Four adulterers were booked under the Public Safety Act for their involvement. The fake saffron was made by dying the corn fibre and marigold flower petals and then subjecting them to numerous chemicals and anti-cold suspensions. The adulterers mixed a bit of the original dried reddish-purple stigma with the substances to prepare a huge quantity of artificial saffron to export outside the State. Methods like missing in extraneous substances like beets, pomegranate fibres, red dried silk fibres or the saffron crocus tasteless and odourless yellow stamens called paet that grow along-with the real stigma. “The adulterers also douse saffron fibres with substances like honey or vegetable oil,” Nago tells you.
Experts say that powdered saffron is more prone to adulteration with turmeric, paprika and other powders used as diluting fillers. “In India, high grade Kashmiri saffron is often sold and mixed with cheaper Iranian imports. These mixtures are marketed as pure Kashmiri saffron causing huge dent to the sustainable growth of saffron trade”, rues Abdul Majid Wani, President of J&K Saffron Growers Association.
Market observers say that saffron adulteration will be a major issue this year due to minimal yield. “Apart from the threat of massive Iranian imports, the business is likely to be hit by adulteration. There are so many people willing to do anything to run their shop even at the cost of compromising on quality and standard,” a Bengaluru-based saffron trader, Muhammad Younis Bhat says over the phone.
But authorities say that to check adulteration and ensure efficient marketing of the product, a spice park is being established at Pampore at a cost of Rs16 crore. This park will standardise processes right from the onset of receiving the flowers until the packaging of saffron for its dispatch to the markets,” Prof Nehvi says. The shrinking saffron land is another threat to the prized crop. Even though the construction on saffron land is prohibited under the land Revenue Act, law is regularly violated by the administration itself with officials teaming up with land sharks,” Bashir Ahmad Malik, a lawyer who owns saffron land in the Valley, tells you.
“Recently, the High Court issued a stern warning to revenue authorities directing them to prevent land conversion and disallow construction on the heritage land, but nobody paid heed to the directive. The encroachment and mindless construction continues unabated,” Majid Wani says, adding that land sharks are very powerful and in league with revenue officials. “After the September floods, the situation has worsened,” he says.
Worse, the State Agriculture Department has no authority to ban constructions on the saffron land. “All we can do is to lodge a complaint with revenue officials”, a senior officer tells you. Nehvi, who heads the multi-disciplinary group of 25 scientists, however insists that the Saffron Mission has begun to show results. He says that in 2012, the annual yield was 10 metric tonnes, which jumped to 15 metric tonnes in 2013. “This quantum jump is only due to scientific intervention. Our target is to enhance production to the tune of 18 metric tonnes. This is achievable though this year we suffered immensely due to bad weather,” he says.
The underneath corms, meanwhile, have suffered a 30 per cent loss. These corms need to be replaced by fresh and healthy ones. “We have set-up a Seed Production Farm on a 50-hectare swathe of land at Alawpora village in Pulwama. The corms from this farm are replacing the worn out bulbs in the saffron fields,” he says. Encouragingly, the farmers have cooperated with authorities to adapt to scientific intervention. “We have availed the facilities to rejuvenate our land. However, the results are not as encouraging as projected. We are co-operating”, Abdul Ahad, a former Government employee whose mainstay is a plot of saffron land at Dussu village, tells you.
Wani is upset with the pace of implementation. “Authorities engage farmers in useless formalities. There is no single-window system. The Mission will be successful if farmers are encouraged and guided on set norms,” he said. The Rs200 crore industry has hit a roadblock this year but the spirited people in Pampore have not. “We have seen the worst of times but we never abandoned saffron farming”, Jalauddin Bhat, a farmer, says. “Saffron is our pride and identity. It is cultivated in Spain and Iran but our product is unmatched,” he tells you with pride.
An interesting story around saffron cultivation goes that the last Independent ruler of Kashmir, in the 16th century, Yousuf Shah Chak, fell in love with a peasant girl Zoon. He was taken in by her melodious voice ringing the saffron fields of Chandhara. Zoon became the famed queen Habba Khatoon whose melodious voice still reverberates in every nook and cranny of the Valley.
The Saffron Mission has rekindled hope for the sustenance of Pampore’s saffron fields. And Habba Khatoon’s voice will continue to be heard for years to come.
