Director Agriculture, Kashmir Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal today visited the saffron growing area of Pampur to assess the crop situation.
During the visit, the director inspected the flower picking conditions in different fields and listened to feedback from relevant saffron growers.
During a discussion with farmers, he highlighted the department’s efforts to enhance saffron cultivation.
Saffron is in bloom and Iqbal said saffron is becoming one of the major tourist attractions today.
The division chief said that the department is working to expand the area under saffron crop and different stakeholders are involved in this effort. He said the department has identified saffron farmers (nurseries) for saffron bulb propagation so that seeds can be supplied to more and more farmers and the crop can be introduced in new areas.
The 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 Indian International Saffron Trading Center (IIKSTC) is commendable not only in providing different mandatory services but also in capacity building of saffron growers.
He said that after getting the geographical indication tag, the saffron crop has huge potential and in the future, it will play a vital role in the socio-economic transformation of the region, especially the farming community, and the agricultural economy of the entire region. He said that under HADP, a special project to promote saffron crop is being implemented.
