The lush green hill station of Kodaikanal famous for its purple Kurunji flower (Strobilanthes kunthiana) has been making great strides in the cultivation of Kashmir saffron in the past decade. Saffron called as red gold is the most expensive, elusive and fragile flower that grows in the foothills of the Himalayas and has largely been associated with the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, an enterprising farmer, Mr. Murthy who attended a horticulture training programme at the Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH), Srinagar in 2015 was fascinated by the scope of cultivating Himalayan horticulture crops like apples, walnuts, peaches, berries and saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) in his own land.
Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH) offered him 60 corms of saffron crocus (weighing about 1 kg) and thus, began the interesting journey of saffron cultivation in Kavunji village in Kodaikanal. Mr. Murthy began cultivating these corms in polyhouses that stood at 7200 feet above mean sea level. The first trial saw 50 plants blossoming while the second in 2018 saw a phenomenal rise to 46 kg of corms!
Though the process has been arduous, success is near as the terraced farming lands and climatic conditions of Kodaikanal (high altitude, cool weather and rich laterite soil) are favourable for the cultivation of saffron. The flowers normally bloom between October and December after which the stigmas are carefully removed and dried.
It is estimated that if saffron is intercropped with kala jeera, small and marginal farmers could earn as much as Rs 25 lakh per year as both these crops fetch astronomical prices in the market.
Written by Lakshmi Subramanian
sahasa.in 
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