DEBOLINA ROY
Labour intensive harvesting
Before sunrise, fragile threads are carefully pulled out by hand. The amount of work needed in order for someone to pull a pound of these threads from the flowers is around 75,000 flowers worth of work and the flowers are requiring a highly skilled manual labour force.
Short harvest season
Farmers depend on the blooming of the crocus, which blooms within a very short time frame. They face by abrupt and total shifts in the weather that could cause total damage to the flowers.
Fragility and processing
After being picked, whisper-thin stigmas need to be dried using special methods to keep their chemical traits intact. These strands require total accuracy during post-harvest handling.
High demand, small supply
The global market for saffron is growing much faster than the production. Because it takes time to produce, breed, and simulate growth cycles, this product's global price and supply will always be very higher.