Harvesting saffron in Indian-controlled Kashmir

A Kashmiri villager picks saffron flowers in a saffron field in Pampore, 25 kilometres south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, Nov 6, 2013. Harvest season of saffron has come in the region. The saffron of Kashmir is famous for its high crocin content. [Photo/Xinhua]

Mohammed Shafi Mir, a 55-year old farmer, has a reason to smile as he scanned his saffron field with a hue of violet, stretched over the slopes of a plateau.

Mir, accompanied by his wife, sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren, has come to harvest the saffron, the prized crop of Kashmir. And this year's harvest promises to be bountiful.

As the autumn sun struggled to come out on the horizon and warm up surroundings, Mir's family members bent as they plucked the flowers and collected them in wicker baskets.

Every now and then Mir shouted a caution especially to his grandchildren as they tread the geometrically laden saffron beds. "Gently," Mir smilingly kept saying. "Children do it carefully."

Within two hours, Mir heaped up the flowers on a white cloth sheet by emptying their baskets. The air around the heap has a heaviness of the flowers' captivating scent.

"Here it's easy but back home the process of separating the saffron from its flowers is a tedious process," said Mir, who has seen his generations associated with the trade. "This is our ancestral land and my forefathers too have been cultivating saffron and then selling it to earn their livelihood."

The plateau of Lethpora, about 15 km south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, is an irregular stretch running over hillocks of grey-brown earth, shaded randomly by willow and almond trees.

Along the edges of vast plateau are walnut and mighty Chinar trees that overlook flower beds of saffron.

A huge mountain range locally called Vastoorwan overlooks the saffron fields. For most of the year, the plateau remains barren, as the bulbs of the crocus sativa (saffron) germinate beneath the dry earth sprouting green shoots in October. But, come late autumn, the green shoots bloom into bright purple flowers dotting the dull brown earth.