SAFFRON CULTIVATION

Historical accounts of saffron cultivation in Kashmir dates back to 550 AD, i.e. nearly four Centuries earlier to its recorded cultivation in Spain (around 961 AD). Presently major producing countries are India, Spain & Iran.

In India, commercial saffron production is undertaken in J&K State only, where an area of over 20,000 hectare is reported under saffron cultivation with an annual production of about 20,000 kg of dried saffron. It is also being cultivated in some parts of Himachal Pradesh on experiment basis.

AGRO- CLIMATIC REQUIREMENT

• Climate

Pure Saffron cultivation can be successfully taken up in sub-temperate climate at an altitude ranging from 1500 m to 2400 m above MSL. Sunny days during flowering stage are favorable for good productivity. Saffron is a rained crop. In general, areas which receive 30 to 40cms of precipitation and remain covered with snow during winter are congenial for commercial Cultivation. Further, spring rains are favorable for corms production, a second spell of rains at the end of summer or at the beginning of Autumn is beneficial for profuse flowering.

• Soil

Pure Saffron cultivation can ideally be taken up in well drained loamy light soil having neutral to slightly Alkaline soil reaction. Water logging/poor drainage conditions of soil cause rotting of corms and Therefore, for successful saffron cultivation, the development of proper drainage system is an inevitable farm management requirement.

• Saffron Corms

Saffron is propagated through corms. The plant remains dormant from May to August. The mother corms reproduce annually 2-6 cormlets which are bulbous but slightly compressed, flowers during the following year. The mother corms provide food to the new developing corms and in doing so wither, shrink and finally die. Thus new corms keep developing each year to replace older ones.

• Land Preparation & Planting

The field is ploughed 4 to 5 times to a depth of 30 to 35 cm in the months of March-April to bring the soil into fine tilt. This is followed by a ploughing and leveling in the month of May.

It is recommended to incorporate 15 to 30 tones’ of Farm Yard Manure (FYM) during land Preparation. The planting of corms is then taken up in furrows of 8 to 10 cm deep following espacement of 8-10 cm corms to corms and 15 -20 cm row to row. The field is then laid out into 2.5 M square beds with a specific provision of 30 cm wide and 15 cm deep drainage channels around each bed.

• Seed Selection

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