15% of saffron crop is turned into waste

15% of saffron crop is turned into waste

A member of the National Saffron Council said: About 15% of the saffron crop is turned into waste, which is due to the large number of flowers at harvest time and the frequent movement of saffron flowers for processing.

Ali Hosseini stated: Currently, four kilograms of saffron is harvested from each hectare of farm, while the harvest of five kilograms per hectare is desirable and achievable.

He said that the decrease in saffron harvest per unit area was due to the development of farms in this crop and the lack of manpower to collect flowers, as well as the relocation of saffron flowers and non-technical processing on the outskirts of cities.

Vice President of the Association of Saffron Producers and Exporters of South Khorasan, pointing out that the area under saffron cultivation last year was 74,000 hectares, said: Following the development of saffron farms, the area under this crop has increased to 80,000 hectares this year.

Hosseini added: At least 300 tons of crop should be harvested from this amount, which is less than this amount. It is questionable why the harvest of this crop is low by spending a lot of resources and increasing the area under cultivation.

A member of the National Saffron Council stated: In the last decade, most saffron fields have been integrated cultivation and their area has increased to five to 100 hectares, which has increased waste during the harvest due to lack of energy in a certain period of time. Is.

Hosseini added: Traditional saffron lands that are more than a thousand years old are small and less than three hectares, while now the majority of saffron farms have increased to more than three hectares of saffron.

He stated: in order to reduce harvesting waste and increase the yield of saffron per unit area, the saffron quality improvement plan was implemented experimentally last year, which has reached zero with the implementation of this plan and observing the principles in waste harvesting and processing.

A member of the National Saffron Council added: Under normal circumstances, 9 to 13 kilograms of saffron are harvested from one kilogram of saffron flowers. With the implementation of this plan, the net harvest from each kilogram of flowers has reached 15 to 17 grams.

Hosseini pointed out: This project is being implemented in 22 poles of saffron production.