Jammu and Kashmir is predominantly known
for growing saffron enormously in India. As a matter of fact, Kashmir stands to
be among the three prominent cultivating places of saffron all over the world.
Kashmiri saffron is reckoned as a legend
among the saffron species- grown in the fields of Pampore near Srinagar for
more than 2500 years.
History
Accordant to historical evidences, saffron
was brought to India in 500.B.C. by the Persian rulers. After capturing Kashmir,
they commenced the growth of saffron on Kashmiri soil.
However,
as per traditional Kashmiri legends, Khawja Masood wali (r.a) and Sheikh
Sharif-u-din wali (r.a) two Sufi ascetics brought saffron during the 11th and
12th centuries A.D.
As
they fell sick, they conjured for help from the local tribal Chieftain. When
the Chieftain accommodated, the two men gifted reputedly gave them a saffron
crocus bulb as payment and thanks.
To
this day, prayers and offering are offered to the 2 saints during
the saffron harvesting season in late autumn. A golden-domed shrine and
tomb is dedicated to them, located in
Pampore, India.
Mohammed
Yusuf Teng, the famous Kashmiri poet and scholar, differed from the history of
saffron as he stated that the plant was cultivated in Kashmir for quite two
millennia.
The Kashmiri tantric Hindu epics of that
time mentioned about saffron cultivation as well. "In the gorgeous valley
of Kashmir, fields of saffron have heralded the dawn for closely 2500
years."
Characteristics
of Kashmiri Saffron
Kashmiri saffron is esteemed for its fine
quality and a majority of it is exported in other countries. The ideal environment required
for the
expansion of saffron is cool dry climate and rich
soil with excellent drainage and organic content that the Kashmiri
land is suitable.
The Indian market sells three types of
saffron i.e. saffron Lachha, saffron Mongra and saffron Zarda.
As Pampore's fertile alluvial plateaus
suits the growth, the stigmas extracted are extremely long with a thicker head
and have dark maroonish-purple hue, which suggests the saffron’s mind blowing
flavor, aroma and coloring power
Though Iran accounts for 70% of total world
production, the karevas of Pampore and the kishtwar valley in Jammu province
produce the finest and the best quality saffron around the globe.
The
rich aroma of saffron marks all celebrations in Kashmir,
the Saffron
Kehwa a
standard Kashmiri beverage is a must on such occasions.
No festivity is considered complete without it.
Though the stigmas of the saffron are the
main spice, the rest of the bulb is not wasted. The petals are eaten as a vegetable and animals are
given the stems.
Barriers
Against Quality of Saffron
Being a delicate plant, it thrives only in
moist soils rich in humus- the dark,
organic material that forms when plant and animal matter decays. It turns out
to be laborious and time consuming when it comes to harvesting.
Noor Mohammad, a
saffron farmer in the village of Lethpora, 15 km from Srinagar, says most of
the work on his 2 hectares of land is done by his family, with the extremum
harvest season falling between Oct. 20 and Nov. 20 each year.
Over the years,
the cultivation of saffron in Kashmir has suffered due to civil
strife as well
as the heavy military presence there. Saffron's output fell by
65% over the 22 years through 2018, according to Kashmir's Department of
Agriculture.
"Saffron manufacture is also besieged by the
problem of spurious substitutes in the market, with an inferior grade of
saffron from Iran being passed off as Kashmiri," says Mohammad, the
saffron farmer.
Saffron fields in Kashmir
are entirely rain-fed. If rains fail, the crop also fails. Water stress affects yield, growth, and
development although water requirement is low for saffron,
Rains in September are
essential for meeting the water requirement of corms for good flower yields.
The areas receiving 100–150 cm of well distributed rainfall with snow in winter
are also suitable for saffron cultivation.
Due
to global
climate change in past years, the weather has become quite erratic and
rains are either scanty or distribution is irregular, thus adversely affecting
the critical stage of flowering in saffron.
Kashmir faced an acute
drought in 1999–2003, and during this period productivity reduced from 3.12 kg
ha to 1.57 kg ha.
Dr
Amjad Hussaini, a SKAUST scientist said, “Drought like conditions, erratic
rainfall, and no irrigation are the main reasons for the decline in saffron
production”. He also added that due to climate change, the pattern of rainfall
had changed, which has had adverse effects on saffron.
Many
people associated with this sector have already turned to other occupations for
their livelihood, abandoning their land. Despite receiving timely rainfall,
saffron fields have sporadic flowers, indicative of the poor produce.
Even
National Saffron Mission has not been a helping hand to improve the production;
instead farmers have blamed for aggravating the situation.
“Usually
before the mission, we were sowing seeds with a 4-6 inch gap. When the
government intervened in the sector they brought a new type of seed and told us
to wash the seed in a chemical, which we had done never before,” said Suhail
Sultan, a grower from Pampore.
He
even added that the chemical killed their seeds, even before they could see it
germinating.
Sultan has 15 kanals of land under saffron cultivation and is
worried about his dwindling fortunes. He has shifted back to the normal method
of sowing seeds.
On an experimental basis, his family had opted for the normal method
of sowing seeds on their two kanals of land, where production has not
dwindled. They concluded
that the new method has contributed to the downfall of the sector.
“They
told us to sow bigger size seeds (corms), instead of smaller ones, which we did
earlier. When we did so, the crop almost disappeared from our fields and then
as a test, we opted for the old tradition again and we found some chances of
its revival,” said Aijaz Ahmad Lone, a saffron grower from the Khrew area of
district Pulwama.
Authorities in Kashmir have set up a high-tech
spice park to increase production quality and quantity in order to boost
saffron’s cultivation and export. But very few farmers find the latest
technology lucrative and most still use century-old techniques for picking and
drying the saffron.
Written by - Peter Fernandes
Edited by – Adrija Saha
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