Why Kashmir's saffron farms are under siege

Mohammad Jabbar’s life has changed drastically over the past four years. The farmer from Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir used to grow the traditional crop for which his village, Patalbagh, has long been known: saffron. Known locally as kesar and scientifically as Crocus sativus, the low-growing plant is prized for its stigmas and styles, which are used as a spice, for food colouring and in medicines. Jabbar earned Rs 3-4 lakh from saffron cultivation on just 0.4 hectares (ha). That was before 2022.

That year, recalls Jabbar, a landfill sprang up near the village, along the highway. “Spread over 3 ha, the landfill is just 200 metres from my field,” he says. Other residents of Patalbagh tell Down To Earth (DTE) that municipal authorities send some 50 mini-trucks from the headquarters of Pampore tehsil (block) to dump fresh waste at the landfill every day. The result has been an increase in rats, which burrow into nearby fields and feed on the corms, or underground bulbs, of saffron plants before they can bloom into bright purple flowers.

Jabbar says the impact became evident within a few months of the landfill’s opening, eventually forcing him to aban-don saffron cultivation altogether. In 2023, he switched to growing apples, which are relatively less profitable and earn him a little over Rs 1 lakh per harvest. But rats are now making their way up the apple trees and damaging his crops. Jabbar spends nearly all day and night in the field trying to protect his harvest. Mohammad Maqbool, another farmer from the village, also recounts the losses he incurred after rats repeatedly ruined saffron corms on his two-kanal (0.1 ha) field near the landfill. He tells DTE that since 2024, he has left the land fallow. He owns another 0.4-ha plot about 500 metres from the landfill, where he continues to grow saf-fron. But rats have now started reaching that land too. Maqbool says saffron corms, which are essentially storage organs of the plant, contain sugar, which attracts rats. “They can travel long distances to feed on it,” he says.

A factsheet published by University of Vermont, US, also notes rats and other rodents as major pests of saffron, because of their affinity to underground corms. Jabbar adds that the foul smell emanating from the landfill is another source of distress for farmers. Recently, his son, who was guarding the apple orchard, fell ill due to the stench. Large numbers of kites circling over the landfill have also begun damaging the apples. Efforts to drive them away have so far proved futile.

Rahil Rashid, a resident of Patalbagh, says saffron cultivation is no longer possible in fields within a 300-metre radius of the landfill. He estimates that around 120 ha of farmland in Patalbagh and neighbouring villages of Chandahra, Som-bura and Kandizal have been affected. In Patalbagh alone, one-fifth of the farmers have stopped growing saffron.

Rashid points out that most saffron fields are located on sloping land at higher elevations, and so are unsuitable for growing other crops. Only some of the lower-lying fields, where irrigation is available, can be used for alternative crops. This is bound to affect the agricultural profile of Pampore tehsil, which records the largest share of Pulwama’s famed saffron production, promoted under the “One District One Product” initiative. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry says saffron is cultivated across 3,785 ha in Jammu and Kashmir, with 85 per cent of area located in Pulwama. “Kashmir saffron”, grown in specific belts of Pulwama, Budgam, Srinagar and Kishtwar, with Pampore as the historic hub, has also been awarded a Geographical Indication (GI) tag due to the intense colour, aroma and flavour and elevated growing conditions. Rashid says affected residents staged several protests and met the tehsildar and the local legislator. They are as-sured alternatives to the landfill would be explored, but no solution has been found so far.

Speaking to Down To Earth, local and regional officials have varied perspectives on the issue. Mohammad Ismail Mir, executive officer of the Pampore Municipal Committee, states that the government has allocated the land for waste disposal. Machinery is now being installed on the landfill for scientific disposal of the accu-mulated waste. Safir Hussain Shah, regional director of the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee, however, says, “This landfill is illegal. We are investigating the matter and taking action for environmental compensation.” Fayaz Ahmed Bande, recently appointed director of urban local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, on the other hand, claims that he is unaware of the matter but he would look into it.

Raja Muzaffar Bhat, founder of the Jammu and Kashmir RTI Movement and Climate Action Group, tells DTE that he plans to approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over the issue. Bhat recently moved NGT in a similar case alleging unscientific dumping of solid waste in Awantipora tehsil of Pulwama. In August, the tribunal ordered the Awantipora Mu-nicipal Committee to pay Rs 33.24 lakh as environmental compensation. Bhat says the Pampore case is serious because waste is being dumped adjacent to saffron fields. The landfill has al-so led to a sharp increase in stray dogs in the area. In the long term, leachate from the landfill could contaminate the area’s soil and groundwater, posing risks to human and environmental health. He believes that a penalty should be im-posed in the case and the compensation should be distributed among farmers who are bearing the brunt of the damage.

This article was originally published in the October 1-15, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth