Not withstanding government’s tall claims of creating ease of doing business environment in the state, agriculture department is creating roadblocks for Kashmir’s saffron exports by delaying necessary certifications and bringing undue rules for the growers, who want to send their produce to different parts of the world.
Growers and the traders say the department mandated to do handholding of the farmers and facilitate different processes is marred with the red-tapism, which is acting as spoilsport to already dwindling saffron industry of Jammu and Kashmir.
Before exporting saffron, a farmer or a trader has to obtain phytosanitary certificate from the agriculture department, which certifies that the product is free from any disease. The certificate is issued by the pathology section of the department by taking a random sample from a saffron lot to be exported. The saffron lot is then sealed till results arrive and then is okayed for the export.
“Previously the pathology section of the directorate of agriculture used to conduct the test with minimal paper work. But now they have made it a cumbersome process,” said a grower wishing not to be named. “Now the file has to go to the director agriculture who signs it and then it goes to other table to put it through the process and is given time and date to come with the saffron for testing and to receive the certification, it takes more than a month.”
He said that earlier any grower could come and get his saffron tested. But now a grower has to get brand registration for which he has to spend thousands of rupees, which is uncalled for.
The traders say that the director is usually out of office for various works and the file remains pending for want of signature. Recently a trader got export order from outside but it took him weeks to get the phytosanitary certificate. The importer was fed up with delays and cancelled his order. The local trader was so much shocked that he didn’t even come to collect the test report.
“Outside state, the similar test takes only two days but here we have to wait for three weeks to four weeks to get the test report,” said a trader. “Due to these delays outside traders are cancelling our orders plunging us into further losses. We are forced to sell the saffron locally at low prices.”
The department also undertakes analysis test of the saffron, which determines the quality of saffron according to various parameters. Again, for this test there is a cumbersome process starting from the director Agriculture. “Three officers from various sections have to be assembled at one place and saffron sample taken and the package sealed in front of them. Then the test report takes another weak if everything goes fast,” said a trader. “At times one or other officer is not present and other times there is no electricity in the department’s laboratory. And it stretches the entire process upto a month which no trader can afford in today’s fast paced world.”
Ironically the same test with many more parameters is completed by private laboratories in New Delhi and faraway Gujarat in just two days.
Many farmers and traders say they have lost the orders due to the red tapism prevalent in the department. Incidentally just a year back the pathology section used to issue phytosanitary tests as an independent body but now it is being send to the director which has made the process extremely cumbersome.
“We have no concern whether they need to get the paper work done from the director or the chief secretary, our only issue is time. Why can’t they complete the process in 2-3 days which can give a huge fillip to the saffron industry,” said a grower.
They blame that greasing the palm of lower employees either through cash or saffron has become another headache for traders. “No file moves without obliging their demands as if they don’t get a salary from the government,” said a grower.
When contacted, Director Agricuture, Altaf Aijaz Andrabi said the laboratory procedure for issuing phytosanitary certificate is a prolonged process that takes time.
“We have to ensure that there are no traces of pesticides in saffron which takes time to detect and issue the certificate. We try to issue the certificate as soon as possible after receiving the sample,” he said. However, growers said phytosanitary only finds out that whether the saffron is disease free and has no connection with pesticides. They said the entire process should not take more than two days.