Private Agencies Plan Saffron Cultivation In Lambasingi

District horticulture officer K.B. Karna said one agency sought 10 acres for this purpose in Lambasingi after Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu recently asked officials to encourage private agencies to do the cultivation under PPP mode, and involve the tribal communities too.

“We will provide land and technical expertise. At present, we identified 18 acres of land of the sericulture department, of which 10 acres would be given to the agency,’’ the officer told Deccan Chronicle on Friday.

He said the agency has already procured corms (seeds) from a foreign country and would soon take the matters forward.

The crop is of high commercial value. The dry flowers are sold in the retail market for `4.5 per kg and wholesale market `2.5 per kg.

Scientists at the regional agriculture research station at Chintapalli succeeded in growing the crop in 2023 on an experimental basis.

They sowed the corms in August, September and October 2023 in different climatic conditions. They were grown in shaded nets, glass houses (pots) and open fields.

As per schedule, a total of 6,500 corms were sown between August and October. In these three conditions, a high per cent of germination was seen in the case of glass houses followed by shade net and there was poor germination in open fields, the scientists said.

They said saffron thrives well in temperate dry climates at altitudes ranging from 1,500 to 2,800 metres above mean sea level. The optimum temperature required for flowering as well as corm development is in the range of 23°C to 27°C. Corms require a temperature of 17°C for flowering.

Globally, the total annual production of saffron is 300 tonnes a year. Iran is the largest producer of saffron followed by Spain and India.