The farmers of occupied Kashmir are worried as inadequate rains have caused failure of the saffron crop to bloom to its full potential, which will result in far lesser yield than expected this year.
According to Kashmir Media Service, as the yield is expected to be at least 60 percent lesser than last year, the price of the pure saffron threads obtained from the purple flowers has shot up to Rs 3,000 per 10 grams and expected to further rise towards Rs 5,000 for the same quantity if the rains do not happen in the next few days.
"Normally, we would have collected most of the saffron flowers by this, time but the crop has not fully bloomed due to lack of rainfall in late September and early October which is necessary for a good harvest," Shabir Ahmad Dar, who owns 11 acres of saffron fields, told newsmen.
He said that as saffron was widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, the demand for the product had increased. "There will be shortage of supply this year and it is natural that those who have any stocks of saffron will cash it," he added. The time for saffron flower to bloom is autumn. Its orange stigmas are harvested and used as flavouring and colouring agent in various recipes including Wazwan. Saffron is also added to qahwa, the traditional saffron Kashmiri tea.
The saffron yield in Pampore, which is widely acknowledged to produce the best saffron in the world, has dropped drastically over the past decade or so due to several reasons including setting up of industrial units at nearby Khonmoh and Khrew and rapid construction of residential houses in the midst of the fields.
Ali Mohammad Butt, who has a vast acreage of land under saffron cultivation, said he would get yield two kilograms of saffron from every acre some 20 years ago but the yield has now dropped to just one kilogram.
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