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| Experts hold primitive modes of cultivation responsible | | Saffron production declines by 50% | | Irshad Bhat
Jammu, Nov 27: After experiencing a good crop last year, saffron growers said that the production has reduced to about half this year compared to last year owing to insufficient rainfall and problems in saffron corm.
The farmers said that last year the production of saffron flowers per Kanal was about 15-20 kilogram which has reduced to seven to ten Kilogram this year. "The land I am having under saffron cultivation is about 30 kanals which on average yielded eight to ten Kilograms of flower production per Kanal which is half the production that the fields yielded last year," said Irshad Ahmad, a resident of Patal Bagh. The farmers said that the production depends upon the location of the fields also.
We have six kanals which fall in Pampore Karewa area and where we picked only six kilograms and harvested only 75 percent compared to last year in another field which falls in Chandhara area of the Karewa," said Rameez
Ahmad, a resident of Chandhara. The farmers said that the cause of low production was insufficient rain and
problems in seeds. The farmers also said that the production of the area that came under National Saffron Mission (NSM) varied but overall the production of this area was good as compared to areas where it is grown in traditional ways.
However, Chief education office Pulwama, Gh. Hassan Guru said that they have not carried out the survey of production yet and would brief only after the completion of the survey.
Meanwhile, experts attributed the low yield to the traditional methods being used in cultivation.
"Since 2011 the production has increased in the areas were the cultivation of crop is done by modern technology," said Firdous Ahmad Nehvi, Chief Scientist for NSM.
He further castigated the farmers for not being satisfied with the production which he claims has increased since the induction of NSM. He further said that the farmers can get a bumper crop if they apply new methods of production and the seeds provided under NSM.
Saffron is cultivated on an area more than 3,200 hectares in Jammu and Kashmir and is the main agricultural produce in the Pampore area of Pulwama. |
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