Chander Mohan Sharma
Since early July 2022, an entrepreneur was in search of 40 to 50 qtls of quality saffron seed corms to establish his project under Controlled Atmospheric conditions outside the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He was prepared to buy it from the private producers, even at double the cost fixed by the Government Department, but failed. After strenuous and door to door efforts, he could get just about 10 qtl. of the seed and that too, much later than his desired date. Most of the seed quantity collected was from Kishtwar and the remaining was from Kashmir. This episode highlights the major obstacle in saffron production in J&K and that is, the deficient availability of adequate and quality seed.
Frequent occurrences of unfavourable weather conditions encourage the deadly ‘corm rot disease of saffron’ in the field and both of these conditions severely impair the seed multiplication rate. These cause severe setback to area expansion programmes that are very often envisioned for this very high value crop. Rapid urbanization is the other detrimental factor.
Area & Production Trends in J&K:
In 1997, the area under Saffron in J&K was 5707 hectare which declined to 3674 hectare in 2015. Production of saffron during the same period declined from 15.95 Metric Tonnes to 9.6 Metric Tonnes during the same period. Lately, the CSIR-IIIM, Jammu (2021), reports that total area under saffron cultivation in J&K is 3715 ha, with production and productivity of 16 MT and 3.0 – 4.0 kg/ha, respectively.
Saffron in India is exclusively cultivated in Jammu & Kashmir and ranks as the second-largest producer of saffron. The major bulk grows in Kashmir division in the districts of Pulwama (86%), Budgam (8%) and Srinagar (4%), but some quantity comes from Kishtwar district (2%) also. It is reported that there exists a potential for saffron cultivation in about 600 hectares as against the existing normal of about 120 hectares of land in Kishtwar. Some instances of saffron cultivation have been reported recently in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and even Rajasthan. But where is the seed?
High Seed Requirement:
It is reported that despite of awareness campaigns and technical support by the government under National Saffron Mission to revive and rejuvenate saffron industry in Kashmir by popularizing scientific saffron production, the saffron growers have shown poor adherence to the practice of changing its corms/seeds. The growers sow 2,25,000 corms per hectare, while science suggests it should be 5,00,000. After a four-year cycle, farmers should change the seeds, but they change the corms after many years which results not just in poor crop production but also in depleted seed vigour.
Saffron in Global Context:
In the global context, India (more precisely, J&K) is currently ranked as the second largest producer of saffron, but she ranks twelfth among global saffron exporters and produces approximately 7 per cent of the total world production. In comparison, Spain with just 600 ha of land is the 3rd largest producer with an average productivity of 8.33 kg/ha which is highest in the world. Iran, Spain and Greece with intensive production technologies are able to achieve higher production and productivity than our productivity and posing great threat to our saffron industry as imports are increasing every year.
Currently, the Saffron crop is being cultivated in Iran, India, Afghanistan, Spain, Greece Italy, Turkey, France, Switzerland, Israel, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, UAE, Japan, Iraq and recently Australia (Tasmania). The world’s total production of dried saffron is estimated to be around 325 tonnes a year.
Iran produces more than 90% of the world’s total production of saffron and accounts for 70% of global exports, despite of the fact that Crocin content of J&K Saffron – which gives the saffron its darker colour and medicinal value – is 8.72% as compared to the Iranian produce which contains 6.82%.
Saffron Trade at Global Level:
In 2020, Saffron trade world over was valued at $240M. Between 2019 and 2020 the exports of Saffron grew by 3.77%, from $231M to $240M. In 2020 the top exporters of Saffron were Iran ($108M), Spain ($50.8M), Afghanistan ($45.4M), United Arab Emirates ($5.86M), and Greece ($5.19M). It is reported that a number of prestigious re-exporters such as Spain, France and Italy add value to Iranian bulk imports and resell the saffron at a higher price.
Saffron Demand in India:
Against the national demand of 100 M.T besides providing livelihood security to the marginally poor farmers of J&K, India’s present saffron consumption is estimated at 20 tonnes a year, half of which is met by leading producers – Iran, Spain and China. With a spice loving population that tops 1 billion, India’s production levels are insufficient to meet domestic demand. To satisfy this demand, US$ 18.3 million in saffron was imported to India in 2018, making it the world’s fourth-largest importer. India predominantly imports Saffron for consumption and not for re-exporting, unlike other major saffron exporters mentioned above. The other top importers of Saffron are Hong Kong, Spain and Saudi Arabia. United States follows India next.
Government Interventions to Promote Exports:
In 2015, Government of India set up SPEDA (Saffron Production and Export Development Agency) to promote its production and export-related activities. Most of the saffron output from J&K goes to the plains with exports of just about Four tonnes. Local brands are largely present within the country and there is absence of large international/national brands. There is still an opportunity for developing a nationwide brand of saffron.
Importance of Saffron:
India is a nation where a burgeoning middle class is now craving for a wide range of products with health benefits, which is a big driver for increase in consumption. Saffron is heavily demanded by consumers due to its application in the food and beverage industry, which is anticipated to be a significant factor driving growth of the global saffron market. In food, saffron is used as a flavouring agent, spice and yellow food colouring, which makes it one of the most preferred spices for consumers. Apart from that, saffron is also used as a dye, spice, fragrance and for medicinal purposes. Saffron, unsurprisingly, is one of the world’s most expensive spices and also lends itself to a fascinating history of underground trade.
Inference:
Taking into account the parameters like significance of saffron as a very high value spice and medicinal crop in national and international trade, scope of area expansion in traditional and non-traditional areas, need for increasing planting density, enhancing Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) and advances in tissue culture technology for quality seed production, it is proposed that:
a) Government must encourage private investors to seize the opportunity to establish Bio-technology Units in the healthy and peaceful environs of Kishtwar or Jammu for mass production of quality seed of saffron under controlled atmospheric conditions through Tissue Culture techniques. It has been claimed at various technical platforms that the desired protocol exists for growing tissue cultured saffron seed-corms in standardized medium.
b) High and quality seed production obtained under controlled conditions will fulfill the requirement of bringing more area under saffron cultivation.
c) Seed will become available through tissue culture technology for the recommended higher density sowing per unit area.
The intervention will facilitate doubling the average productivity of saffron, while efficient processing and marketing going hand in hand, to make it globally competitive and remunerative to growers.
(The author is Retd. Dy. Director of Agriculture, J&K)
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