Pampore, Indian-administered Kashmir – At 4am, before the first call to prayer echoes through Pampore’s saffron fields in the Pulwama district of Indian-administered Kashmir, 52-year-old Bashir Ahmad Bhat steps out with a flashlight.The crisp air carries the scent of soil, but his heart sinks – his precious saffron corms, nurtured for months, lie ravaged, devoured overnight.
“It’s like a war,” Bashir says, his voice filled with exasperation. “We fought climate change, fought low market prices.”
“But who would have thought we’d have to fight porcupines?”
For generations, farmers like Bashir have cultivated saffron in Pampore, the heart of India’s saffron industry and the third-largest in the world after Iran and Afghanistan.
The land here is considered sacred by locals, producing some of the world’s finest saffron with an unmatched 8.72 percent crocin content. Crocin determines saffron’s colour and antioxidant value: the higher the value, the better the quality. Kashmir’s saffron has a deep crimson hue and strong aroma. Advertisement
These farmers have faced a range of challenges and have outlasted them – from a more than three-decade-long deadly conflict between armed separatists and Indian security forces, to smuggling and adulteration of saffron as it heads to global markets, affecting prices for producers.
Yet, in recent years, the world’s most expensive spice faces a new and unexpected threat in Kashmir: the Indian crested p …
