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| Golden crop continues to lose glory despite saffron mission | | | Muhammad Mukaram
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 16: Even after the National Saffron Mission was set up to help the dwindling production of Saffron in Kashmir, there is a visible decline in the saffron production from last few years.
The mission was to bring more land under Saffron cultivation has not been achieved yet. After this year's harvesting season, the growers say, they are yet to see the most prized crop attain its pristine glory back.
The implementation of the National Saffron Mission was extended for two more years last month by the Union government in view of the losses the Saffron plants suffered in past two years due to 'heavy downpour'.
National Saffron Mission was set up by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in year 2010 with nearly Rs 400 crore to be spent for the saffron revival for the next four years. The revival, however, is yet to happen, saffron growers said.
"The saffron mission was introduced to support the farmers to increase the cultivation of saffron farming which has suffering a decline," a grower Ghulam Hassan said.
Ghulam Hassan, however, expressed dismay over lack of research and development in the field of saffron cultivation. The Saffron mission was set up after the crop's cultivation witnessed a decline from about 5707 ha in 1996 to just 3715 ha in 2009-10. After the mission was implemented, the land under the Saffron cultivation saw an upward trend over the years, as per the records in the revenue department, but the area under cultivation still remains below expectations.
In 2013, saffron was recorded to be grown on nearly 2712 ha land and increased to as high as 3492 ha in the year 2014. According to official estimates, Saffron is cultivated by more than 16000 families located in 226 villages.
The state government provides an amount of Rs 25000 per Kanal to a farmer who opts to implement the mission. Under the mission, the growers have to use 2.5 quintals of saffron seed for each Kanal. Most farmers claim that the mission has 'forced' them to implement several ways which according to them has also resulted in the decrease in the saffron production.
"We used only 1 to 1.5 quintals of seed for each Kanal traditionally," a farmer Mohammad Ramzan told Early Times.
The use of surplus seeds has decreased the space between saffron corms causing 'exhaustion' to the land, the farmer said.
Saffron prices generally range from Rs 30000 to Rs 47000 during 1999-2006, the rates now range between Rs 2.1 lakh to Rs 2.7 lakhs.
However, the rate of fluctuation remains one of the major problems for farmers as well. The Director Agriculture said that the fluctuation is caused by middle men and in order to cut them from the buyer and seller, the e-auctioning is being introduced.
Under the Saffron Mission, the government is yet to set up a Quality Lab, a Saffron park and an E-auction centre as planned. On October 26, the government also initiated the process for development of the proposed multi facility centre for dry fruits and saffron at the saffron-hub.
However, Director Agriculture Altaf Aijaz Andrabi said that the Saffron Mission 'mathematically' increased the 'input' to amplify the 'output'. "To increase the productivity, we have introduced the use of fertilizers in the saffron fields which was traditionally frowned upon and our experiments yielded positive results," Andrabi added. |
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