Context
North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) under Saffron Bowl project has identified few locations in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya for saffron cultivation.
Key-points
- Saffron production has long been restricted to a limited geographical area in the Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
- Pampore region, commonly known as Saffron bowl of Kashmir, is the main contributor to saffron production.
- Other districts producing saffron are Budgam, Srinagar, and Kishtwar districts.
- In 2020, the Kashmir saffron got Geographical Indication (GI) tag status.
- However, the saffron bowl which was so far confined to Kashmir is being expanded to the Northeast as the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) has launched the Saffron Bowl Project to explore the feasibility of growing saffron in the region with the same quality.
- NECTAR has identified few locations in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya for saffron cultivation.
- In Arunachal Pradesh, there is a good growth of organic saffron with flowers.
- In Meghalaya, sample plantations were grown at Cherrapunji, Mawsmai and Lalingtop sites.
- The total cost of the whole project is Rs. 17.68 lakhs for Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
- Out of which, a tentative amount of Rs.6.00 lakhs has been earmarked for Barapani (Meghalaya) site.
Types of Kashmir Saffron
- The saffron available in Kashmir is of three types —
- ‘Lachha Saffron’, with stigmas just separated from the flowers and dried without further processing.
- ‘Mongra Saffron’, in which stigmas are detached from the flower, dried in the sun and processed traditionally.
- ‘Guchhi Saffron’, which is the same as Lachha, except that the latter’s dried stigmas are packed loosely in air-tight containers while the former has stigmas joined together in a bundle tied with a cloth thread.
Saffron production in world
- Iran, India, Spain and Greece are the major saffron producing countries with Iran occupying the maximum area and contributing about 88% of world's saffron production.
- India occupies the 2nd largest area but produces approximately 7 percent of the total world production.
About NECTAR
- NECTAR is an autonomous society set up under the Department of Science & Technology.
- The Centre looks at harnessing and leveraging niche frontier technologies available with central scientific departments and institutions.
- In order to assist the northeastern region, NECTAR ensures applications of appropriate technologies for development in the areas of biodiversity concerns, watershed management, telemedicine, horticulture, etc.
- NECTAR Headquarters is in Shillong, Meghalaya.
