Kashmiri saffron, the new silver

Tags

Top Highlights

• Meanwhile, Kashmir’s farmers are experimenting with indoor farming to battle climate change.

• Pampore, the main centre of saffron cultivation in Kashmir,

• The growing demand for Kashmiri saffron has come with a decline in production — it has dropped from 30,000-35,000 kg a few decades ago to a mere 4,000-5,000 kg now,

• Saffron is one of the most delicately handled condiment crops in the world, and is hand-picked, mostly by women, between October and November

• The best variety of saffron, a crop known as ‘red gold’ locally, is selling at ₹3.25 lakh per kg this year, a quantum jump from ₹0.30 lakh per kg in 2005-06.

• conversion of land to orchards and housing complexes.

• Another factor that poses a major threat to saffron production is pollution from the proliferation of cement factories in Pulwama.

• Jammu and Kashmir are the second largest saffron producing areas in the world (second to Iran) and the only place the spice is grown in the country.

• In September 2019, Kashmir’s saffron got a GI tag, which became a game-changer in maintaining its quality and winning back the eroded faith of customers

• The national demand for Kashmiri saffron is to the tune of 100 metric tonnes and the gap is filled by Iranian saffron. “Iran’s saffron is cheaper than Kashmir’s,