Pampore (Jammu and Kashmir)

Noushaba Jeelani, popularly known as the 'Saffron Queen of Kashmir', has turned a traditional crop into a global sensation, with an aim of women's empowerment. Her saffron brand 'Noush' exports saffron in Europe and the Middle East.

Jeelani involved hundreds of local women in saffron harvesting, packaging, and quality control, turning saffron cultivation into a sustainable livelihood. Her startup has collaborated with global e-commerce platforms and luxury wellness brands, putting Kashmir's saffron back on the worldwide map.

Speaking to ANI, Noushaba Jeelani said, "We shifted to Saudi Arabia for five years. Seeing a decline in the saffron business, we thought to come back and give a new identity to an already running business. We did a survey and found that people did not know about adulteration."

She said that the firm has a network of 600 farmers, and growing and sowing are done by women, as the initiative aimed at empowering them.

Discussing the challenges they faced initially, she said the lack of education among people, as they could not differentiate between Kashmiri and foreign saffron.

"We have our in-house production and processing, so quality control is in our hands, so we make sure we give unadulterated saffron. In the survey, the farmers said their monetary return isn't included in the business. We wanted to show the process to the farmers so they get a return on their money," she said.

She said, "We want the women who grow and process saffron to feel empowered and build a community. Basic vision is to grow more saffron, we want to take it forward and want more women to join."

Giving a message to young girls, Jeelani said, "Today, girls are brave and focused. I would say, do what you want and take the first step. You will evolve as you enter the process... Be fearless."

Her husband, Afan Basu, told ANI, "We took the initiative to support my wife. In families, women control the work of saffron. In parallel to our B2B business, we wanted to have a women-led, women-empowered business. In Kashmir's culture, women don't open up to men, so we wanted to build a society of empowered women and transparency from top to bottom."

Basu is an alumni of the BITS Pilani and he identifies himself as “chief farmer with an experience of six decades.”

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On building a Kashmir brand, Basu said, "In India, there are a lot of brands which sell foreign saffron. Here we have the GI tag also, but if you go out of Kashmir and ask for saffron, they will name brands which do not belong to Kashmir... This is our identity, like apples and walnuts."