The current sorry state of saffron trade in Kashmir merits immediate and serious policy and administrative actions. From Rs 2.7 lakhs per kg. last season to Rs 1.3 lakhs this season, the price slide is simply disastrous. The market credibility and respect of Kashmiri saffron – regarded as the world’s best – and grown with most painstakingly by the farmers, is at stake today. As per official figures, saffron is presently cultivated on around 3200 hectares in the Valley, with an average productivity of 2 kg per hectare, which is quite low, given the high input costs. As such, the annual production of saffron in Kashmir is around 600 kg, while the demand is much higher. Today, profitability for farmers from saffron is very low. Currently, over 16,000 families living in 226 villages in Kashmir are engaged in saffron farming. But low land holding remains an issue. As per official record, 61 per cent of the farmers are holding below 0.5 hectare, 26 per cent between 0.5 and 1 hectare and 13 per cent above one hectare. That means the annual yield does not quite suffice the livelihood needs for a majority of the farmers. The biggest hit has come from smuggling of saffron from Iran. There are some policy and regulation steps that need to be taken up at the central government level. Kozhikode, Mangalore and Chennai airports have become major smuggling points of saffron that comes from Iran. After import, saffron is re-branded as Kashmiri saffron and exported to international markets. This results in price reduction of genuine Kashmiri saffron in Indian, and international markets as well.  The J&K government needs to impress upon Central government to look into these loopholes very seriously. If at all saffron is to be imported that must come through legal channels with applicable import duties. Now the diminished productivity; subject experts have been attributing low saffron productivity to glitches like long planting cycles, non-graded corms of random weights, no fungicide treatment of corms, non-application of farm yard manure and inorganic fertilizers. But practically speaking, such cost-intensive practices are not possible for most of the farmers given today’s market costs. As such, selling of 2-5 kanals of land in the saffron growing belts makes better economic sense for farmers today. Then there are some steps which need to be taken by saffron growers and traders themselves. One responsibility relates to ensuring purity and quality of the saffron they buy in pure form from the farmers. Second is to correct the weighing inconsistencies. There is a glaring weighing distortion which puts the farmers at a real disadvantage. While the Kashmiri traders buy saffron in out-fashioned system of tolas (comprising 12.75 gms), they sell the same onwards in the normal terms of 10 gms as one tola. So if a farmer sells one kilogram of saffron to a local trader he loses 275 grams in the process. Government needs to amend the Saffron Act to bring in weighing uniformity. It is a fact that the decline in production is also due to erratic rainfall and consequent drought like conditions that are now a regular feature of the Valley climate. For the sake of better ownership, saffron growers must ideally contribute financial resources in developing irrigation systems. A better way is to subsidize the costs of sprinkle irrigation facilities based on ground water or lift irrigation. Over the years, significant saffron cultivation has been undertaken in the Budgam Karewas, especially the Charar-i-Sharief belt. There is a great scope for further expansion in case farmers see economic sense in growing saffron. Government needs to factor in that aspect in its policy planning. Sadly, a segment of bureaucracy dealing with agriculture has lately been playing regional politics with this area. Government must ensure putting such people at the helm of agriculture policy planning and decision making who are genuinely concerned about Kashmir. Then to bring quality standardization and prevent adulteration, Kashmir’s saffron badly needs a Geographical Indicator (GI).

Lastupdate on : Fri, 2 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 2 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST