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The fragrance of saffron will now spread from Chhattisgarh as a farmer in Raipur has started the cultivation of this expensive spice by challenging the climatic conditions.
Leaving several astonished, farmer Manmohan Nayak has started the cultivation of saffron inside a cold room measuring around 220 square feet at his farm in the city's Bhatagaon area and so far managed to harvest a decent quantity as well as the quality of the expensive spice. Speaking to ANI, Nayak said that while exploring the methods of farming good-quality saffron, he learned that the cultivation of this expensive spice in the country is ongoing in Kashmir (that too in open conditions) due to favourable climatic conditions. "In the exercise of learning more about the cultivation of saffron, I got to know about farmers in Pune and Noida engaged in farming of this spice under controlled conditions. Thereafter, I visited such farms and also underwent training," the farmer said. Taking the next step to achieve the goal of successfully cultivating saffron, Nayak established a cold room at his farm to ensure favourable climatic conditions for farming, visited Kashmir, procured seeds and carried out plantations in August. According to the required climatic conditions, the temperature of the cold room has been set and the seeds are sown in wooden trays, said the farmer, elaborating that for the preservation of the remaining seeds, they have been sown within the farm in the open. Nayak further informed that the harvesting is done once a year and as per the area of cultivation, he is hopeful of harvesting around one-and-a-half kg to two kg saffron. Saffron is the world's most expensive spice and is grown in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka. Saffron is difficult to grow and harvest. The flower blooms in autumn and is hand-picked. (ANI)
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