C M Sharma (Dy. Director of Agriculture, Retd.)
Saffron or Crocus sativus, is an invaluable niche crop of Kishtwar district in Jammu division, J&K. Agriculture Department, Kishtwar (Nov. 22, 2023), estimates annual produce of 9 to 10 quintals from an area of 202 hectares that is cultivated organic by default as well as consciously. 4670 farming families inhabiting a cluster of 19 villages are engaged in the profession. Estimated value of the produce is Rs. 20 crores to 22 crores. The estimates show a considerable scope for expansion as the total potential area for saffron crop in the district is about 742 hectares which includes about 50 hectares of agricultural land designated as non-traditional and 692 hectares as traditional area.
The per unit monetary value of saffron, its livelihood generation potential and aesthetic value are many times higher than any other crop of the area. Ironically, the production per unit area and economic returns to producers aren’t satisfying, despite of better production and marketing incentives provisioned under various government schemes during the past few years.
Ramesh Kumar Bhagat a senior agriculture expert of Kishtwar attributes this negativity to frequent and prolonged dry spells, a slump in marketing of Kishtwar saffron in recent years and the consequent aversion of youth towards this occupation. He says, “The cost of labour and inputs are continuously increasing, but the price saffron growers get for their hard laboured and once in a year produce has remained stagnant during the past 15 to 20 years at Rs. 2500 to 3000 per 10 grams of the dry produce. The reported influx of cheaper adulterated produce from countries like Iran has very adversely affected the market for local produce, he says, and stresses the urgency to take up the issue at appropriate higher levels and resolve it at the earliest so that local farmers don’t lose interest in the occupation for good. He suggests enforcement of total ban on import of adulterated saffron from abroad.
Some other suggestions of Bhagat include, earliest setting up of Saffron Quality Control Lab in Kishtwar as a major push for quality control and development and promotion of authentic brand of Kishtwar Saffron. Sustained efforts for its profitable marketing are required at different levels and he adds, “India has a large pharmaceutical industry where tonnes of saffron can be utilised for producing ayurvedic medicines. Since the industries need pure unadulterated produce only, therefore all stakeholders should come together on one platform and explore marketing opportunities for pure and organic saffron of Kishtwar with top Ayurvedic and Unani pharmaceutical companies of the country”. He strongly advocates for effective and sincere hand holding by concerned government departments for at least the initial 4 to 5 years.
Kishtwar has a history of “producing saffron since Mahabharata times (A.K. Khanna, 2020)” and the farmers have generations of experience in saffron cultivation here. Therefore, just a few, but significant innovations and interventions in key areas can help them revive and rejuvenate the industry. The time at hand is right to prepare and strategise well for obtaining higher production of quality saffron during the coming harvest months of October and November.
Educated youth of the area need re-motivation and up-skilling in scientific and professional saffron farming, post harvest management and marketing, by concerned R&D institutions, to secure remunerative economic returns. Any complacency here will cost dearly.
A sustained crop diversification campaign for over a period of 4 to 5 years with focussed attention on higher production of quality seed corms will help realise coverage of the entire 742 hectares of the potential saffron area mentioned earlier. Following measures are focused for immediate planning and adoption to blunt the lethality of adverse weather conditions and to revive and rejuvenate saffron industry in Kishtwar:
-
Innovatively and efficiently harness water resources to ensure critical irrigation and soil moisture conservation at the right time;
-
Protect emerging saffron flowers from untimely rains and other forms of precipitation at harvest time;
iii. Adopt scientific plantation and intercultural practices to the most optimum level;
-
Adopt integrated pest and disease management practices; and
-
Adopt scientific management of seed-corms and flower harvests to ensure quality and purity of saffron.
Following proposed interventions need serious consideration for immediate and precise adoption:
Irrigation and mulching
Kishtwar being a dryland/ drought prone area essentially requires installation/ establishment of HDPE or RCC water storage tanks of appropriate capacity in the fields of saffron where truck or tractor mounted water tankers can bring and store water from the nearest available source such as perennial streams and even the River Chenab, to provide critical irrigation through gravity-run or pumped drip/sprinkler irrigation system. Even rain water could be harvested in these tanks. Organic or plastic mulching for soil moisture conservation can complement this effort. Here, it needs to be made clear that:
-
Saffron seed corms don’t need much water during their dormancy (rest) period in summers (June to end of September). However, when corms start rooting and sprouting, but the soils are dry with no rain forecast, watering becomes a must.
-
During periods of drought from March to June, irrigation @ 15mm twice a week is highly recommended.
iii. Irrigation must be given after harvesting the saffron if snowfall or rains don’t occur.
-
In the spring season, water is crucial for saffron because then the new “daughter bulbs”, which have formed on top of the “mother bulb”, must grow large enough to be able to form flowers in the fall.
Protection from untimely precipitation
To protect emerging flowers of saffron from untimely rains, hailstorm and snow, low cost RCC or Iron pole structures must be installed at appropriate distances to facilitate emergency covering of saffron beds with tarpaulin, anti-hail nets, or any other protective sheets.
Soil: Saffron seed-corms prefer well drained, easily workable, sandy-loam soils with moisture-retaining properties to facilitate easy digging out and transplanting to fresh soil after a few years. Saffron corms perform poorly on old soil, whereas planting in ‘fresh’ soil prevents most of the diseases caused by residual germs, fungi, bacteria or nematodes.
Choice of Seed Corms: For a good saffron harvest in the first year, seed corms of larger size (15g to 20g) planted at a depth of 20cm are recommended. Seed corms of smaller size (05g to 10g), planted at a depth of 10cm rarely flower in the first year, though making them ideal for establishing a multi-year crop. Medium size seed corms (10g to 15g) planted at a depth of 15cm have a first-year bloom rate of 40–80 percent. Over the first couple of years, flowering rates enhance under normal conditions of corm multiplication and growth.
Planting: To sow the seed corms of average 15g, it is desirable to dig furrows 15 cm apart along a line. Place corms about 15 cm deep, upright, plume facing up with inter-corm spacing of 8–10 cm, enabling planting density of 50 corms per square meter. A path of 25–30 cm should be left after every 4 rows for ease of walking, weeding and harvesting of saffron.
For poorly draining soil, 15–20 cm deep furrow-cum-path must be dug after every 2 rows to create raised beds, facilitate water drainage and prevent corm rot disease.
During warmer summers corms receive sufficient heat in the soil and can remain undisturbed for several years. In areas with cooler summers, corms should be dug out from the ground after 2 years to maintain their health and productivity.
Corms should be dug out in June, once their leaves have withered and turned brown. This marks the begining of their dormancy phase and lasts for about three months. After lifting, the corms should be dried, cleaned, and sorted by size. Store these in thin layers in a dry, sheltered, and well-ventilated location at 20–27°C temperature until replanting as per recommendations.
Planting can begin as early as late July where summer temperatures exceed 30°C and it can continue till mid-August. Corms germinate in late September after seed dormancy breaks. If summers are cooler, delay planting till late August or early September.
Weeds: Weeding & hoeing in summers is a must, with the care, not to injure corms. Corms in dormancy have no leaves during this time.
Manuring: Saffron crop doesn’t require too much of fertilizers, but manure saffron fields in early spring with some dried cow manure and recommended fertilizers in 2 or 3 split doses over a number of weeks. Undertake manuring before rainfall or sprinkling.
Disease and pest management:
-
Carbendazim 50 WP effectively reduces corm rot disease severity to 7.4% and 3.0%, when corms are dipped overnight in fungicidal suspension or given wet slurry treatment, respectively.
-
After planting, cover saffron plots with some fine-meshed chicken-wire so that harmful rodents don’t get into the soil to eat the corms. Diameter of the mesh is often a bit larger than a mouse hole, but the animals don’t like it.
-
Surround saffron plantation with a “smelly” and repelling crop like garlic.
-
Create vibrations in the ground by placing PET bottles upside down with thin metal pins in these. The blowing wind transfers vibrations to the ground and scares away the rodents.
Cultivation Cycle: Freshly planted saffron corms are left in the soil for at least 5 consecutive years before being dug up, sorted and retransplanted into fresh soil. Transplanting is essential as the annually multiplying corms experience dearth of adequate space over time to grow large enough for optimal flowering. Saffron yields peak in the 3rd year after planting, remain stable for a few years, and then start to decline.
Harvest
Between mid and late October, the largest saffron corms start flowering first. Depending on weather conditions, the flowering period lasts about three weeks. In Kishtwar, flowers are picked in the early morning before these open, preferably before sunrise. The process is different from Kashmir where picking is done later after the flowers open as the pistils in flowers grow slightly longer and easier to harvest. Picked flowers are spread on a fresh clean sheet of cloth or table and pistils are carefully removed from the flower. Each flower has three stigmas that are attached to each other with their white ends.
In keeping with the unique traditional way of post-harvest management of saffron in Kishtwar, a bunch of pistils of specific number and weight from a number of flowers are clubbed together by intertwining the lower light yellow and white parts, while the saffron coloured stigmas forming the head are kept free. The bunch gives a beautiful look for presentation and display.
Drying of saffron pistils:
Pistils stripped from the flowers are bunched and dried immediately to prevent loss of quality. In case some saffron flowers remain unstripped, these can be kept refrigerated for several days, although that isn’t preferred.
-
i) For drying, fresh saffron threads must be spread on an oven grid lined with baking paper and dried in the middle of a (convection) oven. At about 50 to 60 degrees Celsius temperature, drying takes between 15 and 30 minutes, depending upon the type of oven and the quantity being dried at a time.
