As a Kashmiri whenever I would go to my grandparents house near the country side, I was always mesmerized by the beauty of these flowers. Whenever I would see these saffron fields I would always look out of my window to see their beauty. But from the past few years I too have seen a rapid decrease in the saffron flowers. Saffron is a very important part of Kashmiri cuisine (wazwan) but nowadays I see only red food coloring instead of the aromatic smell of saffron, even our tea called kehwa used to have these saffron. The Government Of India has to do something about this decrease in the production of saffron.

I knew it was expensive and now I know why. I didn’t know it took so long to grow and had to be hand harvested. How very interesting to learn this new thing today.

A kilo costs $3k, yet the people slaving away to harvest it, gets a mere fraction of that.

As a Kashmiri this is the best video I have seen on Kashmiri Saffron on internet

Iranian saffron has its own grading. The way you've demonstrated is as if every saffron from Iran is low quality.

I’ve been buying my saffron from a company called Zaran, specially their premium grade 1. I always test it in some water and taste, theirs has always been consistently high quality. I never knew the recent struggles the farmers have had. I really hope it works out! Btw my favorite thing to make is saffron risotto!

I got stung buying saffron a few years back I bought what I thought was the top quality saffron considering how much I paid for the very small amount but when I put it into cook with my rice it went yellow so fast I knew something was wrong and when I tasted it it did not taste like it should have I pent almost $20 AUS for a few strands of saffron only to find it was not saffron from India at all I was happy to pay the price that I pay for the saffron as it adds that special something to my saffron rice dish but not this time, I have not bought saffron again now for almost 15 years so this problem has been an issue for a very long time. After watching this I know know I can buy saffron again and know that I will be getting what I pay for it. So now I need to fun a supplier here in Australia 😊😊 Thank you for a really good in-depth view to the issues of the saffron trade 🤗

I never understood the big deal about saffron until I actually grew some and got a tiny harvest. I mean it didn't even register on my scales. But that tiny amount in a rice dish was phenomenal so I think what ever it was that I bought before was either fake or ancient. I got enough the next year for several recipes. But after that nothing as some naughty creatures ate every bulb out of my greenhouse. It was a beautiful flower and I'd had them for at least 10 years. One whole bed full.

There is a way to revitalize the soil. Use bamboo in order to supply the landscape, there needs to be other plants to help the saffron grow, also bio char is great for soil in terms of water etc.. even though it’s said to be bad field burns are actually great for soil, also water collection in terms of landscape and streams and rivers needs to be seen as well, also when you make the soil have bio char in it then water can penetrate “deeper” into the soil also helping floods, using worms that are local to the environment will also help, also getting a scythe and scything the grass constantly to leave rich nitrogen grass behind, the soil needs to be tended too in order to make this better, tilling the soil is “not needed” don’t till the soil layer the soil, you must build up more organic layers of soil, wood chips are good but wood chips can be turned into bio char which is even better for soil in some ways, or wood chips can be turned into a mushroom compost also usable and helps the field, also look into Korean farming and using rice water after the rice has sat and soaked up local bacteria and micro cultures mixing it with water and spraying on the fields, plant trees that will help the saffron, this will help with all weather…. Especially for flooding since the saffron seeds won’t be “washed away” and instead get caught in the trees so replanting can be an easier process…. But think about plants that are local that already grow with saffron in the wild and ask why? Is it a parasite that takes or helps saffron? Then after investigating on a small scale make it larger…. Fungal compost, layers of regular compost, and layers of bio char will keep the farm rich… also fruit trees that can grow with saffron so that’s what’s not harvested can be eaten by the worms… and help the saffron and soil… and what is harvested can be a double crop of saffron combined with a harvestable companion plant, the native Americans do this the Hopi people it’s called the 3 sisters method. Corn/peas and squash or cucumber or watermelon are grown together the corn becomes a stalk for the peas to climb the peas become rich nitrogen for the corn and squash and the squash shades the ground for drought…. The corn is stronger and the peas and the melons or squash… they end up sharing and helping each other and what’s not harvested becomes rich nutrients for each other for what one lacks the other has….

I am really happy to watch very fare and unbiased documentary about kashmiri farmers..but SAD of the state, the world's costliest agriculture producers are at resk...

Can we all appreciate the hard work these people have with obtaining this special spice for us?

What I want to know is why you can't have a double harvest? Saffron is related to crocus and I know crocus can grow and bloom in partial sun. Is there a tree crop that they can plant that could at least bring in a little extra earnings? I'm picturing widely spaced so as not to shade out the fields too much but enough to help reduce water loss from the sun baking the ground. The trees could also reduce wind which reduces top soil loss and water loss even farther. You can also prune the trees so the branches are more open and let more light in. At the rate of current production loss I would imagine the lower yield from less light would be offset by better water retention. I don't know anything about the climate of Kashmir, the needs of saffron, or what trees could grow in such a manner.

I can understand the safron farmers predicament, even if the cooperatives goals are good they might view it as a cartel which is difficult to distinguish. All they want is to sell it in the open market where it can be higher or lower, but if they go with the co-operative they might think its price fixing if the price goes down. Sooo the co-operative must have updated pricing to make farmers feel better, that the co-op is there as a helping hand.

Without saffron Indian sweets are incomplete. And a good brand saffron are smell like no other spices. Every spices in India play a different role in our food and saffron is compulsory. Jay Jagannath 🙏.

Nice move with the certification! Haven't really heard of it's use beyond wine and cheeses. Great to protect the industry!

Saffron is one major used species in indian sweets...

Western countries need to strengthen labeling laws and enforcement. We are the customers, paying a fortune and often not getting what these genuine people produce.

Here in Nepal, Some elite restaurants offer two types of dishes, one with pure Saffron, and one without. They charge the pure saffron 10 times the dish with fake saffron, I once had a wish to find out what the difference is between the two and ordered both of them at the same time, but told them not to decorate the pure saffron one specially, to my surprise, both of them tasted equally delicious but when I heard which dish was made with real saffron, It started tasting way better and the fake saffron became pale in comparison...

What i saw was a barrend land. That why they have flood problem. I think we need to consider the best environment to protect it. Nowadays agriculture is barrend land. No protect plant/tree include in farming activity. I hope we can found new farm technologies about this. Not just for saffron. But all for farm.

Central government has done so much for Kashmir. If that farmer is not selling saffron to the government and not making 2.5 times money just because he don't trust them, then he is in fault. Also why there are no documentaries of pakistan occupied Kashmir, Why? because they won't allow.

An eye opening video on true saffron! I wish people could purchase online directly from the farmers.

When I visited kashmir, a group of men agreed to sell their half kg saffron in just 5000 rupees. 😂 And we were already alerted about this scam !

Saffron can also be grown in Afghanistan. It is a good replacement for the poppies/opium grown in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, US didn't encourage the Afghans to grow Saffron to replace opium. They only destroy the poppies/opium and drive the farmers to the Taliban side.

Wrong !! Kashmir isn't the only Saffron growing region in India . Kishtwar in Jammu also has many Saffron Fields n Farmers . Jammu & Kashmir are two separate Divisions of the Union Territory of J&K . If you wanna report something , atleast let it be factually correct .

🇮🇳 " The Indian saffron" or "Kesar" is a symbol of our civilization and has been an integral part of indian cultural, religious, ceremonial and culinary fields for 1000s of yrs !! Even the indian 🇮🇳 flag has its topmost band in the colour of " indian saffron" known as " kesaria" !! Its really sad and heartbreaking to see how the yield of the once blooming exotic indian saffron industry is just dying out..

don't blame the drought. deforestation for to much farming causes it. maybe too much barren soil caused your drought. soil is no longer holding on to water.

Well done GoI for national saffron mission. In less than 5 years definitely the production will increase manifold at this rate

Perhaps I'm mistaking but isn't this a reupload? I could've sworn they've already discussed saffron.

That's the drawback of India they don't really support bussiness. Just launch schemes & welfare programs 0% group implementation Corruption is the 🗝️

I like to grow saffron where I live is the East coast. very easy Flower to grow and have come back yearly if weather is right. my first few flowers of this year started to pop up and open about two weeks ago.

Because of the sheer amount of saffron farms in Iran on average there could be lesser or mid quality saffron in Iran, but there are also like loads of high quality Iranian saffron that are infact better then kashmiri saffron. So it doesn't sit right when this video clams that Iranian saffron is of lower quality

Sikkim has started growing saffron flowers from 2020 and will overtake Kashmir as the largest producer of saffron by 2023.

government has been working on lots of infrastructure up in Kashmir to bring their Apple and Saffron across India and export it. Hopefully these farmers keep up their work 👌

I’d be interested to see a piece on how bird seed is mass-produced, with so many more people getting into backyard bird watching over the last couple years.

2:34 no when you harvest the same thing without replenishing the soil you will have a lesser harvest. Don’t put your whole life on being able to pick a flower then get shocked when it doesn’t work out.

I've been searching for a good broker to trade with!!! Please 🙏 sir how can i find one??

My grandma lives in Iran and every year will send me some saffron. 🥰

I know an elderly kashmiri pandit couple who had saffron fields in kashmir and they were affluent, but sadly they had to flee with nothing but a suitcase cuz of riots. 😒

“Why everything is being destroyed through mass production volume 782” should just be the name of these.

Saffron Costs Rs 100,000 Per KG in India. Saffron used in Food and Worship. 1 Gram Cost 100 Rupees and No Guarantee of Original.

Govt needs to pay attention...this is the green card towards stability leading to trust ...leading to peace.

Farming is bad all over. In subsistence areas like this it hurts to see how the economy is forcing so many out of a family's livlihood...what they've had for centuries.

"The spice must flow!"

A couple of farms in Western Canada have started to grow saffron as well, though labour / cost of living is much higher so not sure how competitive it is.

I know how value it is to our health, however, I dont want to buy them even if I can afford it. B/c I can't find a real one here in my country

Saffron always has been quite expensive here in the states.. shocking to know how much more expensive it's gotten

Now I am in Kashmir but I an from Delhi . Proud to be indian

I knew fake safran was a problem, but not this big of a problem. I'm very happy that they now established the GI tag! (France has the AOP tag and it's great!) Thank you for sharing Business insider ;)

Indians consume a lot of Saffron in Sweets, Deserts, flavored Milk.

Terrorism divides and Tourism units. Also, tourism supports local industries.

We should apply for GI tag to revive and help flourish the saffron industry to achieve it's past glory because Kashmir has very promising future ahead. It can also be transformed into tourism industry just like Kerala does with tea ..

How can BJP compromise with saffron?

Safran hidroponik tarım ile Türkiye'de yetiştirilebilir. Umarım konuya yeni bir bakış açısı getirebiliriz

New Farm law was solution of these problems, but Govt was pressurized to take it back..

Mmm tempetures could it be that the farming practices are bad, farming same fields year after year kills the nutriets in the soil and you cant grow anything.

Such valuable information for the culinary industry. Thank you. With out this video one can only rely on word of mouth. The purity test says it all. Wish me luck in only purchasing safron from kashmiri. None other will suffice.

It would be very helpful if those who made this excellent video could give information in the description which explains how/where to order and purchase this verified saffron. I've looked on Amazon and none of the bottles are the one in the video. Does anyone know if this is sold in the United States? I would like to be able to support the legitimate farmers and this new process. Thank you.

God bless all the people who work in industries that give us the things we enjoy in life. God bless you all.

In your description you wrote "Kashmir" EDIT ! use India KASHMIR Kashmir is the part of India ! use country name instead of state(Kashmir) name

U wanna save the saffron stop paying the farmers 900 for the whole crop when the center is selling it for thousands per container. Give the farmers a fair share of the profits and stop screwing them over.

Please do not lie to people about Iranian saffron.

Complete lies about Iranian Saffron.

These are the only journalists who deserve the word journalist

Kashmir is the pride of India 🇮🇳. We need to protect their culture, cuisines, etc. Protecting the saffron industry is very essential. I personally love kesar milk and the use of saffron in biryani and Kashmiri Kehwa.

I think there js trust deficit between government and farmers. I urge farmers to have faith on government and by the combine efforts of both we can revive the kashmiri saffron industry.

The place in the thumbnail is in my neighborhood ☺️

Saffron or Kesar as it is known in Hindi is essential in Indian cuisine

The flowers omg the pretty fields of them. Talk about flower heaven. I would die to be able to see fields like that to photograph for the fun of it.

Climate change is going affect a lot of things we love today

All the saffron issues covered beautifully, I want to remind the creators of the video that Kashmir is a NOT a disputed region, It always belong to India.

Good work Govt of INDIA

Truth is Indian Government fooling the poor farmers. But Government Treat well Corporate Companies. I know i have experience.... Quality Less Service...

It's probably good that the wells are useless because the farmers would deplete groundwater reservoirs. They need to utilize rainwater harvesting and storage ponds, and plant trees over their crop to shade the soil.

I grow Safran in Southern Québec, and it can be sold up to 60$ per gram!

When you spread the word about something profitable there will be malicious people that will find ways to ruin it

I imagine part of the problem is possibly the result of intensive modern agriculture. Have these farmers broken away from traditional agricultural methods to any degree? - Do they now spray chemical weedkillers on the fields? Do they now spread chemical fertilizers? Do they use machines to plough up the bulbs fairly frequently (because I 'did' notice the flowers looked to be in very tidy thin rows to me, which is impossible in nature. Saffron Crocus in its natural state divides readily and spreads rapidly). If the bulbs are being ploughed up regularly - then the farmers are 'destroying' any beneficial fungal mycelial networks that help to stabilise soil, normalise soil water retention, and distribute nutrients effectively to the plants. Mycelial networks can take years to regenerate after disturbance. If the climate is changing rapidly in this part of the world too - then the Kashmiri farmers should remember that India's premier was one of the very small group of powers who so disappointed other world leaders during the COP26 summit meeting. To set a zero carbon date so far into the future while actively continuing to allow the increase of CO2 emissions through energy production, dirty industry, inefficient transport methods, etc is harmful to us all. (Remember that at the polling station). I don't blame India for trying to take China's place as the world's manufacturer. Goodness knows, we could all do with a little more transparency when it comes to how goods are made, and where the taxes/profits from our purchases are going. However, we don't want another manufacturer state to be as bad (or worse) when it comes to emitting greenhouse gases. If India 'tidies up' then it will help effect an environmental change to its nation and benefit the climate around the rest of the world. After the disappearance of heavy city smog in Indian cities during the pandemic lockdowns, I'm surprised that people who live there didn't react to make this a permanent state. Instead, they seem quite content to see smog return and an increase in the number of deaths through respiratory illnesses again. In the meantime, these Kashmiri farmers might want to look at any recent modern farming methods they may have been implementing over the past 50 years: especially with regard to machinery and chemicals. They may want to experiment with dig/plough-free and chemical-free zones, and if the sun is more intense in these regions now, with the rains changing season - then lightly inter-crop with fruit/nut trees that will cast a little shade, help stabilise soil, choosing species that would make better use of the new rainy season (while leaving the Saffron bulbs in place, undisturbed, and removing/cutting weeds by hand. It's at least a little less destructive to the much under-rated and unappreciated mycelial mat). Let Saffron become a bonus crop in addition to whatever can be harvested from the fruit trees.

Government : we will give you irrigation system Farmers:- no it will damage the crops Government: we will give you a centre which will give you almost thrice the price you are getting now Farmers: no we don't believe you Government : so if nobody wants to farm we will had it to the corporations Farmers:- 😮

Kashmir isn't disputed.

This video already exists why re-uploaded?

I used to eat and drink the Iranian saffron here in GCC but I wonder what's the different between Iranian and Kashmiri saffron ?

Jai hind🇮🇳

I’m glad my cooking doesn’t require saffron

Great to See My Country Going Global... 😘

In Persian we have a saying: "Have you not found a shorter wall than ours (to throw you trash over)" the second part is usually implied. it means to blame someone that is the most vulnerable. Blaming Iranian farmers for a handful of oligarchs that are actually hurting the Iranian economy the worst by selling high quality saffron as Spanish and low quality as Kashmiri or Afghan. Iranian saffron had a long reputation for being the best saffron in the world for centuries but now you can't even find it in the markets because of this practices. Blaming the average farmer is the peak of stupidity

World Best saffron plant and produce in Iran ( East of Iran; khorasan province) .🇮🇷🇮🇷 Other produces in The world has lower quality .

$760,000 just in two weeks Mrs Charlotte Junko Walsh you are so amazing.

I have some issues with your maps: Stop showing Ladakh as a part of Kashmir. More than two years are more than enough to acknowledge it having been made an independent UT.

Sourcing Saffron is not an easy mission! Small and honest business are the ones that should be encouraged and uplifted! I .E Moroccan coopératives are a good example! Offering top grades and contributing in the local economy. Thumbs up Kashmiris

Why did the editor mentioned the whole UT Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as Kashmir and a disturbed territory ! Government of India is extensively promoting GI tagged Kashmir Saffron around the world. Clearly there was 30 second propaganda shot in this video ! Educated kashmiri brothers in this video are looking Enthusiastic and promoting the Gov. Initiative !

Free Kashmir

We grow crocus in Arkansas. It comes back every year and does well in our yard.

3:26 that's not whole region called kashmir ,there jammu ,ladakh and kashmir.

Iranians use it in everything 🤩

to call the Iranian saffron farmers the boogieman and say the competition from them causing trouble for Indian growers was that was low in my opinion! never less, they are facing issues probably worst than India anyway. they should join forces with Iran and Afghanistan to dominate the Saffron market but No No! we cannot stand each other for a minute and hate each other gut! we call each other names but the funny thing is despite 1000 miles distance between all these people, they use the same words and for better or worse, they could be brothers and cousins

keep fighting for our culture. green earth deserves her seat. >:(

If warming climate is responsible for reduced harvest, I wonder where the New location is of ideal weather for saffron? Further north I presume.

I love that the farmers, not the middle men now get the profit from their hard labor.

Glad they figured out a way to make more money while also verifying a quality product

Why do you change the title of the video?

The representative of NSM didn't make the most convincing argument that some farmers gave heavy resistance and that's why the farmers who wanted irrigation got systems that don't work. I feel like that doesn't add up.