From ancient times Kashmir saffron had attained great fame. It is a unique flower which contains medicinal, decorative and cuisine qualities. The Hindu mythology has repeatedly spoken of saffron as the flower offered to the deity when worshipped by the devotees. Saffron tea, usually called zafran chae in Kashmir is a very cherished after meals drink like beverage and people take it with great gusto. The priests in temples use it for tika or the forehead mark so common among the temple going Hindus. Saffron was the major trading commodity during the days when Kashmir used to conduct its trade with the countries to her north through the one famous Silk Road. At one time when Kashmir’s trade with Central Asian through the Silk Road was at its peak, saffron was the prime commodity that was bartered. Except for a small part of Iran, saffron was not produced anywhere in the Asian continent. Only in modern times Israel has made some effort at its cultivation.
Saffron is grown at a specific area in Pampore of Pulwama district. It grows on soil with specific chemical calculus and is very tender to be nurtured from day one till the flowers are ripe and picked and then processed for marketing. Kashmir has been conducting this agricultural pursuit for ages at end and the methodology and the entire process has hardly gone through any big and recognizable change. The same old way of cultivation, preservation and marketing continues. However, the demand for Kashmir saffron has increased manifold owing to more and more people having financial capacity to buy the commodity. It is an economic fact that when demand is big and supply is limited; people try an alternative meaning production of fake saffron. For quite some time production of fake saffron has been going on and even increasing despite protestation by the honest growers. It has become difficult to control the production of fake saffron and whatever measures Government adopted, the menace could not be eradicated. It ends with great damage to the business of those who are dealing in the sale of genuine Kashmir saffron. Of late, the Union Government turned its attention to this matter and conducted thorough study of the ins and outs of this trade. After due consultations with the State Government, the Union Government floated the ambitious Rs. 400 crore National Saffron Mission Scheme (NSMS). An important component of the scheme was establishing hi-tech saffron spice park as the most important step to bring entire saffron trade, production, marketing etc. on ultra modern lines.
The park to be constructed at a cost of Rs 27 crore will have common facility infrastructure for sorting, grading, packing, quality control lab, e-auction center, garbage or waste utilization among other latest facilities.
However, despite the fact that the Union Government will be providing adequate funding for the project, it has not taken off so far. A couple of saffron growers who are closely connected with the new project that has been announced lamented that the spice park so vigorously hyped in the media is yet to come. They said that the middlemen were looting the growers and it was expected that with the coming up of the spice park which would include the testing laboratory, their business would flourish and fake saffron producers will be sidelined. This has not happened so far. We are not able to understand what holds the Government backs from initiating the project in right earnest. However, the Project Manger is confident that the work has already started and all pre-requisites have been completed. The project is well on the road to progress. Hundreds of families in Kashmir are involved in saffron trade. We wish the entire saffron project with all its components is fully and successfully implemented in shortest possible time so that prosperity comes to the people engaged in the trade.
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