Impact Assessment of National Saffron Mission in Jammu and Kashmir

Concerned over the declining trends of saffron production in Jammu & Kashmir and keeping in view the importance of saffron industry for overall growth and future of large number of farmers working with Saffron, the Government of India approved a flagship programme for revival of saffron through “National Saffron Mission” in August 2010. Being late season for Saffron sowing practically very little work was executed during the first year however the process geared up during 2011-12. The mission was initially sanctioned with a total amount of Rs. 372.18 crores, of which Government of India share was Rs. 288.06 crores and farmer’s share were Rs. 84.12 crores. The mission was initially proposed to be completed within a period of 4 years so the saffron sector in the state shall be revived. Keeping in view the infusion of a huge amount of money incurred and other resources involved through National Saffron Mission besides questions being raised about its impact at ground level, the present study analyses the impact of National Saffron Mission on area, production and productivity of saffron in Jammu and Kashmir. The impact assessment of NSM in Kashmir was worked out by using secondary source of data available from various sources. The impact of National Saffron Mission was found significant only on few components. The results reveal that only 2391.25 hectare were rejuvenated against a target of 3715 ha under NSM. Further it was revealed that production and productivity of rejuvenated area was found better than the area which has not been rejuvenated. The area, production and productivity of saffron in J&K has recorded a compound growth rate of -0.17, 0.07 and 3.15 per cent from 1996-97 to 2017-18 respectively.