Once 5,700 hectares, now just 3,665: The silent erosion of Kashmir’s saffron fields
Srinagar, Aug 2: Once the pride of Kashmir’s agrarian economy and the source of some of the world’s most prized spice, the region’s saffron fields are quietly disappearing.
From an estimated 5,700 hectares in the late 1990s, the total land under saffron cultivation has dropped to just 3,665 hectares as of 2025, according to official data. Pampore—the traditional saffron hub—still leads with around 3,200 hectares, followed by Budgam (300 ha) and pockets of Srinagar (165 ha). But across the Plateau of Karewas, growers are fighting a losing battle against rapid urbanisation, erratic weather, and waning institutional support.
“In Pampore, the land is still called ‘soun-wun’ (golden fields), but all you see now are housing colonies and commercial buildings,” says Nazir Ahmad, a farmer from Lethpora.
Unregulated construction, driven by demand for residential plots near National Highway 44, has swallowed large tracts of farmland. “Even the soil that grew saffron for generations is now sold truckload by truckload for brick kilns,” Ahmad adds.
Climate change has made things worse. Saffron is highly sensitive to temperature and rainfall patterns, requiring well-timed moisture during flowering in October and November. Over the past five years, unpredictable weather—ranging from drought-like spells to unseasonal heavy rain—has repeatedly wiped out harvests.
Adding to the growers’ woes is a new and bizarre threat: porcupines.
“We’ve lost nearly 30 percent of bulbs in some fields due to porcupines digging them out,” said Ghulam Nabi from Chandhara. “No one took us seriously until the damage became widespread.”
Despite these mounting challenges, one crucial safety net remains absent: crop insurance.
“Unlike apple or paddy, there is no government-backed crop insurance scheme for saffron,” says Bashir Ahmad, a grower from Dusoo. “We are on our own. One failed season and we’re in debt.”
The government’s much-publicised National Saffron Mission (NSM), launched in 2010, aimed to rejuvenate the sector through irrigation upgrades, improved planting material, and GI tagging. While the mission succeeded in halting further shrinkage of the cultivated area and improving average yields from 2.5 to nearly 5 kg per hectare, implementation has remained patchy.
The India International Kashmir Saffron Trading Centre (IIKSTC) in Pampore was set up to streamline marketing, ensure fair pricing through e-auctions, and protect authenticity via GI certification. But many farmers complain of bureaucratic delays and low participation.
“Only big growers benefit. Small farmers can’t navigate the process, and middlemen still dominate the local market,” says Shabir Lone, who has diversified his fields to include vegetables and mustard.
According to estimates, saffron production in the Valley currently ranges between 2.6 to 3.4 metric tonnes annually—a far cry from the 15.9 tonnes harvested in the late 1990s.
Some farmers and researchers have turned to indoor saffron farming using controlled environments to escape climate unpredictability. While initial results are promising, scalability remains limited.
Experts warn that unless immediate interventions are made—especially in irrigation, land protection, and insurance—the region risks losing its saffron heritage altogether.
Meanwhile, farmers like Nazir Ahmad say they are slowly losing hope.
“Everyone praises Kashmiri saffron, from Delhi to Dubai. But nobody sees the man who grows it,” he says, walking past an abandoned saffron patch now covered with wild grass.
As Kashmir grapples with development pressures and environmental uncertainty, its famed saffron fields stand not just as a symbol of agricultural heritage, but also as a warning—of what can happen when policy fails to keep pace with the land.
