Contractors cautioned against felling trees in Arafat

MD HUMAIDAN

ARAB NEWS

The Haj Ministry has strongly warned against felling trees in Arafat and other holy sites and said anyone found violating the sanctity of the place by such acts will be dealt with severely.

The warning came in the wake of a contractor cutting down 15 trees in Arafat to erect tents on Wednesday.

The supervisors of the forestation and weather improvement in Arafat complained to the ministry about the contractor, who admitted his wrongdoing and signed a pledge to replant the trees.

The ministry asked all Haj services providing companies and contractors working in the holy sites not to cut trees that provide pilgrims with shades. It asked those who face difficulties in erecting their tents because of the trees to contact officials in charge of forestation to resolve the matter.

Planting trees in Arafat to provide shade for the guests of God was a welfare wakf (endowment) project initiated by Saudi businessman Abdul Rahman Fakieh in 1986. He was very keen about the project and has been inspecting it since then every day after the Fajr prayer. There are now 300,000 neem trees in Arafat.

Adel Khamis, the engineer in charge of the project, said neem trees were suitable to the climate of the region, as they shade large areas and purify the air. "The neem tree is an environment-friendly plant. It purifies the air and fights agricultural pests," he said.

Khamis said the pilgrims spend the day in Arafat under these trees, which protect them against heat, and said pilgrims are very keen about the preservation of these trees.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Committee for Religious Ifta and Scholarly Research has issued a ruling preventing the cutting down of trees in the holy sites.

It cited a number of traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) warning against cutting down of trees.

The Arafat tree project had won the Makkah prize for distinction in preserving cleanliness of environment. The project started with a few trees planted along the main roads, Jabal Al-Rahma (Mountain of Mercy) and Namira Mosque before it covered the entire area of Arafat.

Saffron cultivation, production faces decline in Kashmir

Farmers shift to other crops as govt fails to come to their rescue

For the last 20 years Adbul Qadir had been cultivating saffron in his 10 kanals of land in Budgam district; but the consistent heavy losses during last few years has forced him to shift to farming of a different crop.

“The cultivation of saffron costs around Rs 15,000 per kanal and profit was much less than that,” said Qadir, adding that had he not shifted to other crops he would have starved.

Qadir is one among the hundreds of the farmers who have switched over from saffron farming to other crops as former was no longer commercially viable for them.

Saffron is cultivated in Jammu and Kashmir mainly in Pampore, Pulwama, Budgam and Kashtiwar. But the cultivable area as well as production has reduced by half in a decade’s time.

According to the records of Agriculture Ministry, the area under saffron cultivation has declined from 5,707 hectares in 1997-98 to 3,010 hectares in 2006-07.

Also the productivity of the saffron has decreased from 16 metric tons to 8.5 metric tons with the average crop yield of 2.32 kilograms per hectare.

The experts believe that if adequate steps are not taken saffron cultivation may face grave threat in the state.

“Productivity is declining at a very fast rate an so far government and its concerned agencies including the authorities at SKUAST-K have done precious little to save this expensive spice,” said Ghulam Hassan an agriculturist.

The farmers blame illegal imports, adulteration of saffron and non-seriousness of the authorities for the declining production as well as their own interest in saffron farming.

Farmers claim that every year large quantity of saffron is illegally imported into Kashmir from other countries at very cheap rates which has brought the industry to huge loss.

“Saffron from other countries of the world is sold here under the name of Kashmiri saffron due to which the rates of the original Kashmiri saffron have gone down and keep on fluctuating throughout the year, which ultimately result in huge losses to us,” said Qadir, adding that a year back one ‘tola’ (12 grams) of saffron would cost around Rs 3000 but this year the rate has reduced to much less than half.

“Adulterated saffron is also being sold in the market by some traders which has downgraded the image of Kashmir saffron in the national and international market,” he lamented.

Farmers also said that government took some steps in preventing illegal import of saffron last year and many were arrested but no substantial change occurred as the authorities couldn’t sustain their action for long.

Pertinently Kashmiri saffron is considered to be world’s best saffron for its long red stamens with distinctive aroma, color and flavor.

The other reasons for low production of the saffron, the experts say are ignorance of farmers about cultivation techniques and climate changes.

“The recycling of saffron farms after every 4-5 years is necessary; farmers here have not recycled their farms for long periods now which can be the reason for low production and quality of saffron here,” said an agriculturist.

He also said that pollution (mainly due to cement plants) in the Khrew belt of Srinagar district has led to the scant rainfall and snowfall in the region which has affected the production of saffron in main region of Pampore to a large extent.

The farmers also claim that not much has been done by the government even after the Saffron Bill passed by Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2006, which was aimed at saving the land under saffron cultivation and regulating the market of saffron at national and international levels and imposing curbs on the adulteration of saffron.

However, in the recently concluded autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Agriculture Minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir while admitting the reduction in saffron production informed that with the implementation of National Mission on Saffron for economic revival of J&K saffron, government is expected to increase the production of saffron to 5 kilogram per hectare.

He said that under the mission, Rs 372 crore will be spent over the period of four years, beginning 2010-11 in the state.