PAMPORE, November 3: Director Agriculture Kashmir Sartaj Ahmad Shah on Tuesday reviewed saffron post-harvest facilities and marketing initiatives at the India International Kashmir Saffron Trading Centre (IIKSTC) in Dusoo, Pampore, and urged growers to use the centre’s services to improve product quality and secure better returns.
Accompanied by Joint Director Extension Kashmir Mujtaba Yahya Mukhdoomi, Shah inspected the facilities and interacted with officials on saffron processing, grading, packaging, e-auctioning and Geographical Indication (GI)-related initiatives.
Officials informed him that the centre had started receiving fresh saffron flowers for stigma separation and drying, two important stages in post-harvest management.
Speaking to Kashmir Convener, Shah said the centre offered three key facilities to saffron growers: a demonstration plot to promote recommended cultivation practices, post-harvest processing and drying facilities, and an online trading platform.
He said the demonstration plot had been developed to show farmers how to improve crop production by following the recommended package of practices and providing irrigation at critical stages of growth.
The second facility relates to post-harvest processing. Shah said growers could bring fresh saffron flowers to the centre for processing. Farmers who separate stigmas at home could also use the centre’s vacuum dryers for drying.
He said controlled vacuum drying helped preserve saffron’s key quality compounds, including crocin, picrocrocin and safranal, compared with conventional open-air drying.
According to Shah, home-based drying generally takes three to four days, leaving the stigmas exposed to dust and possible fungal contamination. The vacuum drying facility, he said, reduces processing time and helps maintain quality parameters required for laboratory testing and market access.
He urged growers to use the facility, saying better preservation of saffron’s quality characteristics could improve its market value. He added that processing and drying at IIKSTC would also help farmers benefit from the GI tag associated with Kashmir saffron.
The third facility is an online trading platform that allows growers to offer their produce to buyers in domestic and international markets. Shah said the online bidding system was designed to enable participation by large business groups and buyers from different parts of the world.
He appealed to saffron growers to bring their fresh flowers and separated stigmas to the centre and use the online platform to expand their market access.
Shah also acknowledged complaints from farmers over delays in payment of sale proceeds. He said the earlier banking arrangement with HDFC Bank had been replaced by Jammu and Kashmir Bank to facilitate timely credit of payments into growers’ accounts.
He added that issues affecting the online trading platform would be addressed and that efforts were being made to make it fully functional at the earliest.
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