In a major breakthrough led by Indian scientists, a group of aspiring farmers from far north-eastern regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Sikkim are all set to reap the fruits in the first crop of saffron, which may be any time soon. Saffron, whose cultivation has traditionally been limited to specific regions like Jammu & Kashmir is said to be the most expensive spice in the world because of its huge medicinal value.
To meet the huge gap between demand and supply as well as boost the farmers income in the regions outside the valley, the autonomous body has been working on expanding saffron cultivation to the northeastern states too, identifying potential sites by cross- referencing through desktop studies and Geospatial techniques with the geographical and climatic parameters of Pampore region of Kashmir as standard reference.
“There is an increasing demand for saffron globally, and the cultivation in new regions is aimed at filling the gap in both domestic and international markets,” he said.
So far, as many as 64 farmers (22 in Sikkim, 37 in Arunachal Pradesh and 5 in Meghalaya) have joined hands with the NECTAR to cultivate the saffron at the 15 cultivation sites in the mentioned States intensively assessing the related parameters needed for saffron cultivation, said the scientist. The efforts have started yielding results.
Saffron corms that were sown between last week of September and first week of October in the three North-eastern States are now blooming with flowers. “ As of the first week of November, approximately around 37,000 plus flowers were blooming. As saffron flowers spread, at least 200 grams of dried saffron is expected from the region this season,” said a scientist from NECTAR.
It was in 2021-22, that the NECTAR had carried out pilot cultivation in Sikkim in the Northeast and the results were encouraging enough to spread the cultivation sites.
Saffron is a rich source of several bioactive compounds such as crocin, picrocrocin and safranal which renders several therapeutic properties like anti-convulsive, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-depressant, anti- psoriasis, anti-seizure, anti-nociceptive, anti-inflammatory, anti-genotoxic and hypolipidemic.
It is also widely used in the textile and cosmetic industry. For the past few years, there has been an increasing demand for this spice while the domestic production is not enough to meet the daily demands, said the scientist.
