Agriculture Director visits saffron fields, interacts with growers

The Agriculture Director, Chowdhury Mohammad Iqbal, on Friday visited saffron areas of Pampore to take stock of the crop scenario.

During the visit, the Iqbal inspected flower picking in different fields and took feedback from the saffron growers concerned.

While having discussion with the farmers, he underlined the efforts by the department for strengthening saffron cultivation.

Amid saffron flowers in full bloom, Iqbal said that saffron flowers are becoming one of the major tourist attractions these days.

He said the department is working for area expansion under saffron crop and different stakeholders are on board in this endeavour. He said that department has identified saffron farmers (nurseries) for saffron corm multiplication so that the seed could be provided to more and more farmers and the crop could be introduced in newer areas.

Director said that over the years saffron farmers are now adopting modern cultural practices, technologies in the field of saffron cultivation. He said the role of the India International Saffron Trade Centre (IIKSTC) has been commendable not only in providing different mandatory services but also in the capacity building of the saffron growers.

He said after getting GI tag there is a vast potential in saffron crop and in coming times it would play a vital role in the socio-economic transformation of farming community of the area.