PAMPORE : The Saffron farmers in South Kashmir’s Pampore area are in dire need of a permanent water supply systems which however not have been provided to them by Government. Farmers say it is one of the major factors due to which ratio of saffron production is decreasing every passing day.
A delegation of farmers told INS: “It has been years, since government has constructed bore-wells in the area under ‘saffron mission’ to mitigate the issues being faced by the saffron farmers of the town, but all the bore-wells were not made functional. Reasons of which is better known to authorities.”
They said that lack of water is responsible for decrease in saffron production in the area mostly from last couple of years, ‘which is the matter of serious concern.’
“We are facing huge inconveniences and incurring losses due to the lack of water in our saffron fields from four years. Government started tube-wells but there is no water available. All the tube-wells were not made operational,” a saffron grower, Ghulam Hassan said.
The farmers appealed to Governor Jammu and Kashmir and concerned authorities to look into the matter as early as possible to ensure the permanent water supply.
Syed Altaf Andrabi, Director, Agriculture claimed more than hundred bore-wells are already constructed in the area.
“Handover and takeover problems are evident there. Instructions to agriculture chief in this regard have been already issued,” he said.
Andrabi said that the issues of water supply are being resolved and ‘hopefully we will do it during this season’.
