The government of Jammu and Kashmir has provided monetary incentives to hundreds of farmers in the Kashmir Valley to pursue saffron cultivation and to ensure that more farmers take to growing saffron as well.

Cheques worth Rupees 25,000 were distributed to several hundred saffron growers owning one Kanal of land to help take care of labour charges and other expenditures involved in saffron cultivation by the state’s Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir during a function held in the saffron hub of Pampore in Pulwama district recently.

In a drive launched by the agriculture department under the National Saffron Mission, new corms were distributed among the growers and the sowing of the saffron was done under the supervision of agriculture experts.

“They were told to sow eight gram corms according to scientifi c methods, even though they had never sowed such corms earlier, as they feared losses. So, we organised this (incentive distribution function) to convince them that they would not face losses. We are also providing fertilizers and pesticides through the government, so that the farmer feels that this new technology is useful for him,” said Mir.