the ledeFEBRUARY 2018 13mir, where saffron cultivation is the second-larg-
est industry. But the last two decades have seen
more than a 25-percent decline in saffron cultiva-
tion in the state. Heavy construction in Pampore
reduced the area under saffron cultivation from
5,707 hectares in 1996-1997 to 3,785 hectares in
2014-2015, which led to a decrease in yield per
hectare from 3.13 kilograms to 1.88 kilograms.
Today, around 3,500 hectares are available for cul-
tivation. A severe drought in 2017 exacerbated the
crisis. The state received around ten millimetres
of rainfall between August and October, a tenth of
the average for those months, which drastically
reduced the yield.
Mir felt that other factors had contributed to
the slowdown of saffron production. “Nowadays,
families hire workers from outside who have little
or no expertise in cultivating the spice,” he said.
He noted that there had been a move away from
saffron cultivation to other livelihoods, and sug-
gested that the new generation was not enthusias-
tic about learning the techniques of saffron farm-
ing, because of the social taboo attached to the
occupation of farming and also the low pay-out of
the labour-intensive work. “I want my children
to do this job,” he said. “The new generation feels
a sense of disgrace at being called a ‘farmer,’ and
they find other means to earn their livelihood.”
In 2010, the central government created the
National Saffron Mission, a project with funds
of R371.18 crore—which was later increased to
R400.11 crore—that included subsidies for fertilis-
ers and pesticides, and plans to install borewells
and other irrigation facilities, such as sprinkler
systems. Although 101 out of a planned 126 bore-
wells were built, only eight of the planned 128
sprinkler systems were installed, and, according to
Mir, only a few of these function. The centre has
extended the scheme till March 2018, but farmers
are not content with it so far. Mohammad Shafi
Basu, a saffron grower who has been in the busi-
ness for over five decades, said, “I have never seen
such low yield in my life. The core thing needed
for saffron cultivation is water, which the govern-
ment has failed to provide us. The government
installed tube-wells and laid pipes for sprinkle
irrigation, but most of them are defunct.”
A few saffron growers in Pampore have set
up their own irrigation facilities, and have seen
better yields since. Disappointed with the lack of
a proper irrigation system, Abdul Majid Wani, a
62-year-old saffron grower and the president of
All J&K Saffron Growers Association, set up an
irrigation facility on his own last August. “The
borewells were already dug up by the govern-
ment, but were defunct,” he told me in October
last year. “I brought some equipment used to make
the borewell work and connected them with a
motor, ensuring a regular water supply for my
part of land.” He said he experienced a 40-percent
increase in yield.
Mir was not impressed by the government’s
efforts. To begin with, he said, it should provide
crop insurance for saffron—a longtime demand
of producers which has not yet been granted.
“The government needs to build proper infra-
structure for sprinkle irrigation, like they have
in Iran,” he said. “The reason they are far ahead
of us is because they are utilising the technology
properly. Lately I heard that they have some sort
of machinery there that does the saffron pick-
ing.” He was referring to the saffron separator,
a new device recently invented in Iran, that
extracts flower stigmas. Mir appeared annoyed
at the proliferation of imported Iranian saffron,
which is cheaper and frequently sold as Kashmiri
saffron. He recalled an incident from 2007, when
a foreign client asked for laboratory certification
to ensure that Mir was not selling fake saffron.
Since no saffron-testing laboratories exist in
Kashmir, he had to go to a private laboratory
in Delhi, which cost him around R10,000. Basu
agreed that Kashmiri saffron was losing cred-
ibility in the international market because of fake
saffron. “It’s high time for government to set up a
saffron research lab in the valley, where products
will not only be tested, but they can study why
the saffron yield is going downhill,” he said.
Mir told me that according to Kashmiri legend
saffron was brought to the region by two Sufi as-
cetics, Khwaja Masood Wali and Sheikh Sharifud-
din Wali. They fell sick, and begged a local chief-
tain for a cure. When he obliged, the two holy men
gave him a saffron flower as payment and a sign of
gratitude. Every year, devotees offer prayers to the
Sufi saints—who have a golden-domed shrine and
tomb dedicated to them—during the harvesting
season, in late autumn.
Basu appealed to a different god. “We are
dependent on the weather gods for rain,” he said.
“If it fails, our crop also fails, which is what has
happened this year.” sopposite page:
Mohammad Habib
Mir, a saffron farmer
in Kashmir, felt that
there had been a
move away from
saffron cultivation
to other livelihoods,
and suggested that,
nowadays, families
hire workers with
little expertise in
growing the spice.