Warmer weather triggers early bloom
Nawshaba Iqbal
Srinagar, May 18: On-site distillation units installed at the lavender farm in Anantnag district have eased the processing of Bulgarian roses, with freshly harvested flowers now converted into natural rose water at the farm itself.
Officials associated with the 5 acres farm in Sirhama area said the units, installed over the past two years under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), have reduced transportation bottlenecks and improved production efficiency.
“The distillation units have reduced the need to transport the harvest, making the process easier for workers,” said Shabir Ahmad Bhat, who is associated with the farm.
The farm currently operates two distillation plants – a two-quintal-capacity unit for Bulgarian roses and a five-quintal unit mainly used for lavender processing during June and July.
Every morning, workers begin harvesting roses around 6 am before temperatures rise.
Carrying wicker baskets, they move through rows of dew-covered plants, plucking freshly bloomed flowers, which are then shifted directly to the nearby processing area.
Around 25 workers remain engaged in harvesting activities till nearly 11:30 am, after which extraction begins on-site.
Inside the distillation section, workers load rose petals into large metal containers placed above boiling water chambers.
Steam generated from wood-fired furnaces passes through the flowers and connected pipelines before condensing into clear rose water collected in storage vessels.
Kamal Bhat, a Research Assistant at the farm, said the extraction follows a traditional handmade process.
“The flowers are weighed and placed in distillation containers, where steam passes through the petals and connected pipelines before rose water is collected,” he said.
Officials said the distillation units currently operate on traditional wood-fired heating systems, requiring nearly one hour for the water to boil and around three hours to complete extraction from one quintal of roses.
According to officials, nearly 34 kilograms of natural rose water is extracted from one quintal of flowers, while around one-and-a-half quintals of firewood are consumed during the process.
After extraction, the rose water is packed and transported to Lal Mandi in Srinagar and Nunar in Ganderbal for further processing and auction.
Officials said the product is later used in soaps, cosmetics and related items, with buyers from different parts of the country participating in the auction process.
Bhat said changing weather conditions this year altered the flowering cycle of Bulgarian roses.
“Temperatures during February remained unusually high, causing several crops, including Bulgarian roses, to flower earlier than usual,” he said.
He said harvesting began nearly 10 to 20 days earlier this year, noting that while the process started around May 10 last year, it commenced much earlier this season.
Besides lavender and roses, medicinal and aromatic plants such as Mushk Bala, rosemary and others are also being cultivated at the farm.
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