Ghaus Siwani, New Delhi

Majeed Wani, 60, had been cultivating saffron, the world’s most expensive herb, in Tral, South Kashmir for decades. The crop fetches good money yet the flip side of saffron is the cost of cultivation is growing and the land is shrinking.

Last year, Majeed tried something new: instead of keeping the bulbs of saffron in the soil, he multiplied and later cultivated them indoors and the result was stupendous.

While through conventional farming, Wani produced 1.5 to 2 kg of saffron per hectare of land, through his new method, his yield was 8 to 10 kg per hectare. It’s a four-fold rise.

His successful experiment was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who mentioned him in her monthly radio programme Maan ki baat.

His experiment also means that small farmers can also aspire to grow saffron indoors and reap dividends.

Majeed Wani’s experiment has attracted many farmers to him with everyone wanting to learn and gain from his experience.

Traditionally, saffron bulbs are sown in bunches, and they yield the saffron for five years. The cost of preparing the land for sowing is about Rs. 500,000 per hectare.

Thereafter, one has to spend only on tuning the soil and extracting saffron from the flowers. All this costs about Rs 1.5 lakh per hectare. At present, the market price of saffron is Rs 2 to 2.5 lakh per kg.

This means that saffron is worth Rs. 300,000 is produced in one hectare of land at a cost of about Rs. 1.5 lakh. In this way, the farmer gets a direct profit of one lakh rupees.

However, Majeed Wani says that earning one lakh rupees appears to be a big sum, however, keeping in mind that the whole family is engaged in farming, it’s not substantial.

‘When we calculate the hard work in saffron cultivation, the profit of Rs. 1 lakh is not much,” Majeed says.

Now with his successful ways, Saffron can be grown in a small area through indoor farming.

In the year 2020, Majeed Wani raised saffron indoor as an experiment, However, this year he has cultivated it on a large scale. He has thus invested about 2.5 to 2.5 lakh rupees.

When left unattended in the soil, the saffron bulbs rot. Ideally, these should be stored and multiplied in a dark room.

When the bulb was ready to be sprouted, Majeed planted it in the soil and later shifted the plant indoors and it gave good results.

Even a farmer with minimal land can grow a large quantity of saffron in this way.

"If other farmers adopt this method, their profits could increase 3-4 times," says Majeed Wani. Majeed also has the support of NABARD and Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural University in this innovative experiment.

Wani's saffron is sold in the market with GI tag.