Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Nov 7: Kashmir’s world–famous saffron industry is staring at yet another disastrous season, with growers reporting that the crop bloomed for barely a few days this year. They said the overall harvest has remained below 10 per cent of the normal output.
Farmers said that, unlike earlier years when saffron flowers continued to appear for weeks together, the bloom this time lasted just a few days, leaving fields almost barren soon after.
“This is the worst season we have ever seen,” said Abdul Rashid, a grower from Lethpora. “Normally, we used to pick flowers for 15 to 25 days. This year, we were done in hardly three days.”
“We have lost hope now. For 10 years, we have been begging authorities for timely action, but nobody took us seriously,” Rashid lamented.
Farmers claim that despite repeatedly raising alarms about drying corms, unavailability of irrigation and continuous weather stress, nothing concrete was done on the ground.
“Had the government ensured irrigation infrastructure on time, the sector would not have collapsed like this,” said another farmer, Javaid Ahmad, from Pampore. “When the corm stays dry during spring, autumn and even summer, its root decays, and when the root is damaged, how can you expect flowers?”
Growers are now demanding that the government must investigate the much–hyped National Saffron Mission, a centrally funded project worth over Rs 400 crore, which was launched in 2010 to address issues of irrigation, quality corms and scientific cultivation.
“We want to know where this money has gone and what the outcome of this Mission actually is,” said a grower, Mohammad Iqbal. “There is nothing visible on the ground. This Mission has completely failed.”
Even though the Mission was later extended by two more years, farmers say the promised benefits never materialised and saffron land continues to be converted for other use.
Although the agriculture department data initially showed a steady rise in saffron yield between 2010 and 2014, farmers said the sector never recovered after the 2014 floods. Multiple years of severe dry spells dealt additional blows.
In 2024, production was already at just around 30 per cent of the normal crop, and this year, the production is just below 10 per cent, according to growers.
Official data also shows that land under saffron cultivation has shrunk from 5,707 hectares in 1996–97 to 2,387 hectares in 2019–20— a 65% reduction, and production fell from 17.33 MT in 2021 to 14.87 MT in 2022, and marginally improved to 14.94 MT in 2023, but last year’s real output was only around 30% of expected production.
Farmers said irrigation availability, providing quality corms and stopping land conversion are urgently needed steps if the sector is to survive. They warned that if immediate measures are not taken, there will be no saffron left here in a few years. (KNO)
