A Forced Shift | Climate change, Govt apathy de-motivate farmers from growing saffron

Pampore: Climate change, government indifference, and a consistent dip in yield were some of the reasons that dissuaded Gulzar Ahmad from cultivating saffron this year.

Ahmad owns large swathes of land in Lalpora, some 3 km from Pampore town in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Each year, around this time, he would eagerly wait to harvest the world’s priciest spice from his field, sprawling over 20 kanal.

However, this year Ahmad did not cultivate saffron.

Instead, he chose to grow mustard on a significant portion of his land.

“I know shifting to oil seed cultivation from saffron sounds a bit unusual, but the losses in saffron cultivation forced this change,” Ahmad said.

Like Ahmad, many farmers in Konubal, Dusoo, Munpora Ladhoo, and other saffron-producing villages turned to mustard cultivation.

Climate change is one of the dominant factors that de-motivated some farmers from cultivating the spice.

The rainfall deficit, unseasonal snowfall, and other environmental factors have taken a heavy toll on saffron production over the last few years.

Official data suggests that the production of saffron over the past two decades has dropped by 65 percent.

Similarly, land under saffron cultivation has shrunk from 5707 hectares in 1996 to 3875 hectares in 2010-11.

A concerned citizen, who did not wish to be named by his name, said that many farmers converted the saffron land either into orchards or used it for construction.

However, he quickly added that they grew mustard as a rotational crop.

In an attempt to save the cultivation, the government came up with the Jammu and Kashmir Saffron Act, 2007, which prohibits the conversion of saffron land.

The government also introduced drip irrigation in 2010 after it rolled out the Rs 412-crore National Saffron Mission to fight the protracted dry spells.

However, the farmers say that a mesh of pipes was laid in their farms but was not made completely operational.

“The dripping system was not made functional in our area. I can’t speak for other areas,” said a farmer from the Chatlam area.

Director of Agriculture Kashmir, Choudhary Muhammad Iqbal told Greater Kashmir that many farmers uprooted the pipes from their fields.

He said that after the 2014 floods, some people dealing in real estate purchased large swathes of land in and around Pampore, but left it uncultivated.

“This land became a breeding ground for rats which, like porcupines, pose a serious threat to saffron,” he said.

Iqbal said that the local farmers engaged migrant labourers for grubbing and de-weeding purposes, resulting in low production.

“These labourers have no idea of saffron farming. They do it on their own which takes a toll on the yield,” he said.