Saffron has been a popular spice since its ancient beginnings. The flower is highly regarded in many cultures for the significant role it plays in tradition and cuisine. Saffron is derived from the stigmas of a fall-blooming flower, known as Crocus sativus. Native to Greece and Iran, the flower is cultivated in various regions of the world, stretching from Asia Minor to North Africa and Europe.
Apart from its sun-kissed golden colour and luxuriant aroma, saffron is also known for its many health benefits. In recent years, the spice has attracted interest from various industries including the world of food, cosmetics, pharmacology, and textile as a natural colorant, and an antioxidant powerhouse.
However, despite its rise in popularity, the production of saffron faces numerous challenges, which could make harvest even more rare. Saffron’s cultivation, quality, and yield are directly influenced by climate conditions, the quality of the soil, irrigation, and post-harvest treatments. Any fluctuation in these conditions can heavily impact saffron’s availability and quality.
Saffron is also considered a strategic product in the regions where it’s cultivated. The spice is the main source of income for many rural communities – any decline in saffron production puts the livelihood of local farmers at a huge risk as their financial stability depends on the survival of the delicate crop.
Saffron farming not only provides seasonal and permanent job opportunities, but it can also reshape and redefine the economic landscape. Women bear much of the burden of harvest, and in the developing regions where they are considered the most economically vulnerable group, saffron can offer them employment and financial independence.
In this blog post, we will cover the risks and challenges faced by saffron producers, and how local communities are turning to new technologies to combat the challenges that have put this precious spice at risk.
Risks & Challenges
Although saffron’s cultivation is expanding beyond its native regions to lands as far as South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, global production seems to be on the decline due to numerous factors, including changing weather patterns, labour shortages, lack of government support, post-harvest mismanagement, and adulteration.
1. Climate change
To grow saffron, you must meet its unique requirements. To thrive, the crop requires specific conditions. Saffron is extremely susceptible to environmental changes. The type of soil it grows in, the temperatures it experiences, and the amount of water it receives impact both the quality and the quantity of the autumn crocus.
Saffron grows best in hot and dry climates with hot summers and cold winters. In recent years, the climate crisis has disrupted the growth cycle of the crop to worrying levels. Changing weather patterns, rising temperatures, droughts, erratic rainfalls, and shifting seasons have put saffron farming at great risk with yield shrinking drastically.
As a result, saffron production has dropped significantly in Iran, Kashmir, and Spain. Hit by climate change, many saffron growers are forced to abandon the crop altogether. With unpredictable weather patterns becoming more prevalent, farming saffron is becoming less sustainable, and many saffron fields are repurposed to suit crops that are more adaptable to weather changes and offer more economic stability.
2. Labour shortages
Sold by the gram, saffron is the world’s most expensive price. Averaging $3,000 per kilo, the head-spinning price comes down to its meticulous, and tedious harvesting process. The flower has a very short season and requires expert labourers who are proficient at handling the delicate saffron flowers.
The workers have to spend days on end, bending down, going up and down the fields, plucking the flowers in the thousands and millions. Harvest is then followed by the precise and delicate work of separating the stigmas from the crocus. The slightest deviation from the standards and protocols can significantly damage the stigmas and compromise the quality of the spice.
unfortunately, the saffron industry relies on cheap labour to lower the overall cost of harvest. Despite the painstaking work, in Iran for example, the harvesters are paid as little as $5 for a full day of backbreaking work. The woes of harvest have driven many of these expert harvesters out of the saffron industry.
3. Adulteration
Saffron adulteration is an age-old problem. In 1358, the city of Nuremberg passed the infamous “Safranschou”. The draconian law was implemented to safeguard the integrity and quality of the city’s most valuable asset and to combat adulteration. Eight centuries later, the saffron market is still grappling with fake saffron.
Sold at a premium price, saffron has always been an attractive market for counterfeiters who look to make huge profits off the back of this precious spice. Adulteration not only compromises the quality and reputation of saffron, it also poses major health risks. Often synthetic dyes are used to replicate saffron’s unique colour.
There are various ways in which adulteration takes place. The yellow parts of the styles of saffron, and stigmas of safflower, marigold, or calendula are added to the saffron to increase its volume. Safflower is especially popular because it closely resembles saffron’s red-orange colour. In more extreme instances corn silks, saffron roots, tissue, and silk threads which are not safe for human consumption, are dyed and passed off as saffron.
Another major issue is the indefinite origin of the spice. Saffron changes many hands before it reaches the consumer. More than 80% of the world’s saffron is produced in Iran, but curiously enough, the country is only responsible for 40% of global exports. Due to economic sanctions, Iran is restricted in direct sales of its saffron. Therefore, a huge chunk of Persian saffron is sold in bulk and rebranded as Spanish saffron.
Detecting and preventing adulteration is crucial to preserve the integrity of saffron, to safeguard the interests of producers, and to ensure consumer safety.
Innovations & opportunities
Saffron harvest is an ancient practice that has seen little change over the centuries. However, the old farming methods are becoming less sustainable due to the reasons we’ve already covered. To meet the growing demands for saffron and to address the risks and challenges faced by the industry, researchers and farmers have turned to indoor farming methods and artificial intelligence as alternative solutions.
Indoor saffron farming
Due to its precise nature, saffron’s cultivation is limited to a specific season and climate. In recent years, indoor farming has emerged as a sustainable and efficient method to enhance and optimize the cultivation of such a prized crop. Saffron can be grown in a controlled environment where sophisticated methods are used to replicate the optimal conditions including the light, temperature, and humidity to achieve the desired quality.
In addition, by forcing the corms into regular dormancy periods, it is possible to increase flowering up to four times a year. Indoor cultivation not only substantially increases saffron’s yield and profitability, but it also increases the quality of the spice as the plant receives controlled doses of required nutrients.
Also, grown in a controlled environment, the light can be adjusted during the harvest period. This ensures that saffron’s extremely sensitive bio-compounds are not exposed to light. Moreover, indoor farming protects the corms against pests and diseases, ensuring premium-quality saffron.
From vertical farms to hydroponic and aeroponic cultivation, there are various farming methods to choose from. In the hydroponic method, the corms are grown nutrient-rich in water. In the aeroponic method, the corms are suspended in the air and the exposed roots are sprayed with nutrient-rich solutions. LED lights are then used to control the duration and intensity of the light in order for the crocuses to grow optimally.
Indoor farming not only protects the delicate saffron crop against the changing climate patterns, soil salinity, pests, and infections, but it also maximizes yield and eliminates the need for huge plots of land to grow saffron and allows the industry to meet the growing demand for saffron.
However, it is worth noting that setting up an indoor saffron farm is by no means a cheap undertaking. The initial cost may not be within the budget of most farmers and it might be considered a huge financial burden. Government initiatives and financial aid packages are needed for indoor saffron farming to become mainstream.
Saffron by-products
Saffron’s primary use is in cuisine. However, in recent years, the spice has garnered attention from the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries due to its high concentration of flavonoids and carotenoids which give saffron its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
The stigmas of the saffron flower are considered the most valuable part of the crop. However, they make up for less than 8% of the crocus. The reaming parts of the flower including the petals, stamens, and styles are traditionally discarded as bio-residue during harvest.
However, recent studies show that saffron by-products contain high concentrations of bio-compounds that make saffron such a potent ingredient. Accounting for more than 90% of the harvest, saffron’s by-products can be used as a cheaper alternative in the pharmaceutical and beauty industries. This expands saffron’s use beyond its pricey stigmas and opens up huge investment opportunities for saffron farmers.
Despite the risks, challenges, and hardships that riddle the industry, saffron remains an in-demand crop. The dainty crocus has found new homes in the unlikeliest of the regions and climates. The tiny flower has been through the mill but it has remained defiant. Every year as the hot summer days drift away, saffron rears its purple head from under the clayish soil, signalling another year of harvest.