wers, delicious fruits and other natural sceneries. Besides Distt. Pulwama is
famous all over the world for saffron cultivation which is mainly grown in
Karewa lands of Pampore, Kakapora and Pulwama Blocks.
UNIQUE
ABOUT PULWAMA
The Distt. is reported to be
one of the pretty spots on the earth, because of its congenial climate,
innumerable springs streams, water falls, fragrant flo
wers, delicious fruits and other natural sceneries. Besides Distt. Pulwama is
famous all over the world for saffron cultivation which is mainly grown in
Karewa lands of Pampore, Kakapora and Pulwama Blocks.
There are important shrines and
temples in the Distt. to name a few Khankha Tral built by Mir Syed Ali Hamdani, the
great saint and scholar of Iran, besides the town Awantipora present the remnant
of the buildings and sculptures of the time of the king of Awantivorman.
District
Pulwama is rightly called the “ANAND OF KASHMIR”
or “DUDHA-KUL” of Kashmir as the production of milk has gone
beyond 118 thousand metric tons per
year and per capita availability of milk has been more than 500 ML/per day for
6.2 lac population of this district. The district is self sufficient in milk
production and is exporting it to Srinagar city for
distribution for the entire valley. The daily export of milk is worth
about 2.5 lacs. The white revolution has been brought about by genetic upgrading
of low yielding local cattle to
high yielding cross breeds.
This has been possible by providing Artificial breeding facility at 120 centres
throughout the district and with help of Frozen Semen technology, the level of
cross breeding has exceeding 80% of the estimated 2.12 lac cattle population of
the district. Every year about 30-40 thousand breed able cows are being
inseminated with costly exotic germ plasm and 12-15 thousand new births of
improved variety are added to our cattle population each year.
The Milk
Production is likely to get further boost by establishing a Liquid Nitrogen
Plant at a cost of 110 lacs under district Plan during 2001-02. If marketing
cover is provided, the Milk Production will touch greater heights in future and
establishment of Milk Processing Plants in the district in private sector is a
good omen.
A View of the Milk Processing Factories at Pulwama
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The Golden Condiment as commonly known is a
legendary crop of J&K State. The cultivation is mainly concentrated to
township of Pampore and adjoining areas occupying an area of 5,000 hectares
which stands largest area under cultivation in the world feeding 8,647 farming
families.
The annual production of 155 Quintals is generating an
income of Rs. 40- 50 crores at a conservation estate of Rs. 350/ per
tola(family).
This
appears to be the second largest cultural activity after fruit production in
J&K State. Further this the only state which is commercially increasing in
area, production, productivity by way of adopting
modern technology intervention to make its quality more competitive for its
export and infuse confidence and assurances among growers for security so that
they work more vigorously towards Saffron cultivation.
Saffron
is a legendary crop and is associated as an important component of our cultural
rich heritage. The Kashmiri Vaids namely Veghbhata and Sushtra used saffron as
an important ingredient in Auyervedic medicines. Saffron has a variety of uses
as a natural colouring and flavouring agent besides a press able condiment with
incredible medicinal and therapeutic value. The demand for pure and quality
saffron at a globe level is in between 120- 130 tons in which India is
contributing about 12 to 15 tons which mainly comes from J&K state. The
world production is not only to meet the global demand because the cost of
production in European countries is very high and the chances of its expansion
are comparatively very low. Its only here in India with the tremendous human
resources available has scope to promote and expand saffron cultivation to
become global exporters in Global Market.
Now once identified that
competitive inflection point there is utmost need for planning to achieve this
goal. This can only be achieving by increasing the area to enhance the
productivity, improving past cultural practices with advanced technology know
how including the handling and packing with utmost care. There has been losing
trend in the total production attributed to severe drought during couple of
years, therefore, horizontal expansion has to be taken up with proper scientific
input with which the profitability under saffron cultivation can be achieved
with the expectations.
