Photos: Climate change ravages Kashmir's 'red gold' saffron crop

It takes around 160,000 flowers to yield one kilogram of the precious spice

Last updated: December 23, 2020 | 12:53

AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Senior Web Editor

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On sweeping fields once blanketed in lush purple, a thin and bedraggled crop of flowers is all farmers in Indian-administered Kashmir's saffron-growing region Pampore have to show for this year's harvest.

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Dry conditions blamed on climate change have seen yields of the world's most expensive spice halved in the past two decades, threatening the future of a cash crop that has brought wealth to the region for 2,500 years.

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"These fields used to be like goldmines," said Abdul Ahad Mir in Pampore, just south of Indian-administered Kashmir's main city Srinagar.

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Saffron has long thrived there, and Mir's family was reared in the delicate work of plucking the lucrative but tiny crimson threads from purple crocus flowers.

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Warming temperatures caused by climate change have made rainfall erratic, depleting the thirsty saffron fields of water.

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It takes around 160,000 flowers to yield one kilogram of the precious spice, which will sell for around $1,350 in local markets.

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But official figures show that harvests of the so-called "red gold" were just 1.4 kilograms per hectare in 2018 - half the figure recorded in 1998.

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The harvest season - which lasts for just two weeks at the end of autumn - has also been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Historians say saffron has been cultivated in Kashmir since at least 500 BC.

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Locally the spice is added to traditional dishes and used as an ingredient in Kehwa, a sweet drink served during special occasions such as marriages.

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Elsewhere in the world, it is prized for its use in cooking and cosmetics and can fetch prices of more than $10,000 per kilogram on the international market.

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Nearly 90 percent of the world's saffron is grown in Iran, but experts consider Kashmir's crop to be superior for its deep red colour and distinct aroma.

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