Two Haryana brothers grow saffron in 225 sq ft room; sell at Rs5 lakh per kg

When Naveen Sindhu was working at a hotel in the UK, his brother Praveen Sindhu was pursuing MTech in India. Both brothers were also researching growing Kashmiri saffron in Haryana's subtropical climate given the high demand for the world's costliest spice. 

“My brother Praveen read about indoor saffron farming in a newspaper and was keen to try his hands. After he completed his MTech in 2016, we both decided to work on it,” says Naveen, the elder of the two. 

Around the same time, Praveen went to Thailand for training in the cultivation of Cordyceps, a type of mushroom gaining popularity for its medicinal properties. 

“Once I got back in 2017, we visited Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir and stayed there for two months to understand the process of saffron cultivation,” says Naveen.

Pampore is one of the world's largest saffron cultivation areas, producing around 90 percent of Indian saffron. “We spoke to the farmers, understood the process of saffron farming and also visited the local agriculture university,” says Praveen.

Growing saffron on the roof 

The next year, in 2018, the duo prepared an unused room on the roof of their house for growing saffron using aeroponics - growing plants in an air or mist environment without using any substrate like soil or water. 

Saffron is the world’s costliest spice as growing it outdoors on the farm is extremely labour-intensive. Indoor saffron farming is rapidly gaining traction due to high saffron demand and limited supply.

“Our room measured 15 ft X 15 ft. We bought a chiller to maintain the temperature, a humidifier to create a moist environment for the plants, grow lights to provide sunlight indoors, and wooden trays for putting the saffron bulbs,” explains Naveen.

The initial investment in the lab was around Rs 6 lakh, excluding the cost of saffron seeds (bulbs or corms).  The brothers bought 100 kg of saffron seeds online from Kashmir at Rs 3500 per kg. “The bulbs were destroyed as they were sent through post office courier. We lost the investment in seeds. In 2019, we went to Pampore to get the seeds,” he adds.

In 2019, they bought 100 kg of saffron seeds or bulbs at 2500 per kg. “The results were good and we used that batch for research purposes. We distributed the saffron among family and friends and did not sell it,” Naveen says.

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Enthused with the results, the brothers got 700 kg of seeds at Rs1500 per kg the next year. “We developed our contacts and got seeds at better rates by bypassing the middlemen. Due to the rising demand, the prices of saffron bulbs are on the upswing now,” says Praveen.

They planted the 700 kg seeds in their 225 sq ft room, which can hold up to 1,000 kg of saffron bulbs in wooden trays. 

“In a 2 ft X2 ft wooden tray, you can plant 5kg seeds. The trays are stacked one over the other, and grow lights are put near the racks to replicate sunlight,” explains Naveen.

That batch led to 500 gm of organic saffron, which the brothers sold for Rs2.5 lakh. There was no looking back after that. “Last year, we harvested 2 kg of saffron, earning Rs10 lakh from this small room,” he says.

Process of indoor saffron farming

Saffron bulbs are put in the lab beginning August 15. Bulbs develop buds, which grow into flowers under optimum lighting, humidity and temperature. It takes three months from the bulb to the harvest stage. 

“We start putting the bulb in the lab around August 15 and flowering starts around November 15 when we start separating the strands of saffron from the flowers,” says Naveen. After removing saffron strands, the remaining flower petals are bought by cosmetic companies for around Rs2000 to Rs2500 per kg. 

After harvest, the bulbs are put into the soil from November to February for multiplication. One mother bulb can give anywhere between four to seven daughter bulbs. 

“In the spring, the corms are dug up to separate the mother and daughter corms. The mother bulb dies off, leaving the daughter bulbs for planting in the next season,” Praveen says. 

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So just 1,000 kg of bulbs can yield around 1.5 kg to 2kg of saffron and produce around 3,000 kg of bulbs for the next season if planted with adequate spacing and watering.

Praveen and Naveen say that after buying the bulbs once, farmers can continue to use them annually by putting them back in the soil after harvest. “This helps to cut down cost as the major expense is in buying the bulbs,” Naveen says.

The total electricity expenses for maintaining the lab for these three months is around Rs30,000. “We don’t hire any workers and do everything on our own,” says Praveen.

They sell the saffron under the Amaratva brand and export to the US, UK and other countries besides selling in the domestic market.

During the remaining eight to nine months, the lab can be used to grow cordyceps or button mushrooms to increase the annual earnings, Naveen adds.

(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in business, financial, and socio-economic reporting)

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