FlowersPampore growers expect 4,000-5,000 kg of saffron this season as cooler nights help flowering, though thin rainfall has cut flower numbers and price, cash and land pressures remain.
AgribusinessHDFC Bank's Parivartan programme backs saffron, apple, walnut and red chilli growers with solar pumps, dryers, cold storage and the SAMARKASH brand.
CropsAbout 90,000 Iranian corms planted on 4,000 square metres at Spituk Pharka near Leh flowered in under a month, against the two months officials had expected; about 22 grams were picked in four days.
CropsFarmers in Pampore's Patalbagh say rodents drawn by a nearby dump eat saffron corms; residents estimate 120 hectares affected, and the pollution regulator calls the landfill illegal.
CropsSaffron, the world's costliest spice, needs dry summers and cool winters, and in Bangladesh's monsoon its corms rot in open fields. Here is how Kashmir grows it and what Bangladesh's trials since 2000 found.
