SAFFRON

On The Verge Of Extinction

Kashmir’s prize saffron industry is at the verge of extinction. More than natural reasons like erratic rainfall and drought, it is the rampant adulteration and cheaper Iranian imports that have dealt the serious blow to the industry. For being available at cheaper rate, the Iranian saffron has taken over the Kashmiri product in the entire Indian market. And what perturbs the saffron growers here is that the Iranian product is sold under Kashmiri tag.

Kashmir produces 13000 kilograms of saffron (crocus stavia kashmiriana) - a prized and costly ingredient used in medicines and south Asian cuisine annually- which yields an annual turnover of around Rs.200 crore. With timely rainfall this year, the growers expect that the saffron production could shot up to 15000 kilograms but the uncontrolled import of Iranian saffron is haunting them.

“The irony is that Iranian saffron is sold on the Kashmir tag. An influential caucus of saffron dealers imports the Iranian crocus, mixes it with the local production and sells it on the Kashmir brand name”, rues G M Pampori, President of Saffron Growers Association.

Saffron is the dried reddish-purple stigma painstakingly collected from billions of flowers grown on 4500 hectares of fertile land spread over 200 villages of the prosperous Pampore belt in the outskirts of Kashmir's winter capital, Srinagar. The Kashmiri saffron is priced at Rs.30000-35000 per kilogram. However, the availability of Iranian product, which sells just between Rs.18000-20000, has given the growers a tough time.

Ironically, there is no official agency to check the menace. "We have reports that our saffron is being adulterated by vested interests, and are seriously contemplating to take measures to check it," declares Agriculture Minister Abdul Aziz Zargar. He said that they have raised the issue with the central government many a times but the problem still existed. “We are brining a Bill in the state assembly by which we would fix a particular tag for our product to separate it out from the Iranian one”, Zargar told the Hindustan Times.

Kashmiri saffron is the most celebrated in the world, and experts stress for maintaining its high standard. Cultivated in a special eco-system, the saffron is produced only in Iran and parts of southern Europe, especially Spain. A study at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) says that Kashmiri saffron is qualitatively very rich, containing 17 percent of crocin, the pigment which lends color and aroma to the spice.

Year after the Earthquake

KAMALKOTE

In the official records, this is a model village adopted by the state government. But all one can see here as a classic sign is a 6x4 feet block raised at the roadside proclaiming “Model Village Kamalkote”. The rest is shattered heaps of the houses, crumbled under a devastating earthquake in living memory that struck this region on October 8, last year.

Even after one year of the earthquake, life here seems far from normal. Single room tin-sheds, which the residents use as their shelter-houses is all that has come up in this village in the past one year. People tell terribly familiar stories of loss and deprivation.

KAMALKOTE is a vast village sparsely located on a mountainous landscape of Qazi Naag. It is connected with the tehsil headquarters of Uri by a 24-km long road. With sharp bends and curves, most part of the road is rundown, and the danger of skidding off the bend and falling hundreds of feet into flashing river Jehlum beneath always hangs around while traveling on the road.

Of 667 deaths in entire URI belt, 306 had taken place in KAMALKOTE quarter alone. Official statistics say that 1871 residential houses and other structure had crumbled down in the earthquake.

“Rs.40,000 has been paid to every affected family as the first installment to raise their houses. The second installment of Rs.30,000 is being distributed from September 28”, says Sub Divisional Magestrate Bashir Ahmad Dar. He however added that the second installment would be paid only to those people, who have raised their houses upto plinth level.

“How would we build our houses? It costs us between Rs.18000—20000 to get a truck-load of bricks here, which is available for even less than Rs.10,000 at other places”, says Mohammad Yousuf Khan, sarpanch of the village. “A cement bag costs over Rs.350 here”, he adds.

In the entire Kamalakote village just one structure has been raised above the plinth level. The structure, which belongs to a widow Hashim Bhi, is being constructed by the local Masjid Committee. The scene at other patis (sectors) of the village including Sultan Dhaki, Dachi, Chappar, Dulanga, Paranpeela and Sarai Bandi is no different.

The residents of Kundi Burjala are facing even worse problem. Located three km ahead on the mountain top, a foot-path connects the village with Kamalkote. “We have to pay additional cost of head-loading the material to our village”, said Ghulam Patti of Kundi Burjala. “And a truck-load of bricks costs us further Rs.5000”, he adds. Forty people had died in the village and 151 structures were smashed in the earthquake.

“The government cannot build houses for each individual. We can provide relief, and that we have provided very generously. The people to stand up on their own and with encouragement and facilities from the government have to overcome their problems”, says Taj Mohiuddin, minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, who represent Uri constituency in the state assembly.