Pampore: Renowned Austrian Scientist, Dr Micha Horacek visited Pampore and Chandhara Karewas in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district and lifted the soil sample to study it for his research project on Saffron.
He also visited India International Kashmir Saffron Trade Centre (IIKSTC ) Dusoo Pampore and inspected the various departments of the processing unit.
Former agriculture officer Chuni Lal Bhat, progressive former and member Kisan Advisory Board Member, Irshad Ahmad Dar, Farooq Ahmad Dar and other farmers, a saffron grower, facilitated Horacek’s visit to Pampore Karewas. Bhat organized the visit to Kashmir and the interaction with the local farmers.
Talking to Kashmir Reader, Dr Micha Horacek said that it has been known for a long that the saffron of one area is misbranded as Saffron of some other origin. He gave an example of Iranian saffron which as per him is most commonly available and also cheaper.
He said there were instances where Iranian saffron was misbranded as saffron of some other geographic origin. “There is a need to verify the geographic origin of Saffron to check such frauds, ” he said, adding that he is aiming at developing methods with the help of isotope analysis which will help in differentiating saffron of one geographic origin from others.
The scientist also visited Jammu University where he called upon Vice Chancellor and his co-researcher Jyoti Vakhlu.
Dr Micha Horacek, Scientist at Department of Lithospheric Research, Vienna University & AGES–Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Vienna Austria called upon Prof Umesh Rai Vice-Chancellor, Jammu. Dr Horacek is a collaborator in the DST-funded Indo-Austrian bilateral project In the Indo-Austrian collaborative project entitled
“Stable isotope and endomicrobiome as a marker for the origin of Saffron in absence of genetic markers,” the geographical origin of saffron will be assessed using stable isotopes and microbiome associated with the saffron plant.
Dr Horacek expertise lies in Geology, particularly Geochemistry, Stable Isotope analysis, and Environmental Science and Prof Vakhlu’s expertise lies in microbiomics, genomics, transcriptomics and plant microbe interactions. Indo-Austrian collaboration has resulted in the publication of two recent papers “Microbiome
Fingerprint as Biomarker for Geographical Origin and Heredity in Crocus sativus:
A Feasibility Study” and “Exploring the Potential of 87Sr/86Sr Isotope Ratio with Strontium and Rubidium Levels to Assess the Geographic Origin of Saffron” in a peer-reviewed journal in 2022-23, officials told Kashmir Reader.
Dr Horacek further wanted to assess the geographical origin of Saffron using stable isotopes in Jammu and Kashmir and visited IIKST Dusoo, Pampore, and Kishtwar for sample collection and interaction with farmers.
Prof Umesh Rai during interaction with Dr Horacek expressed his keen interest in extending Saffron cultivation and also developing GI tags to other products specific to the UT in addition to saffron. It is worth mentioning here that the University of Jammu as one of its commitments to transdisciplinary research for the upliftment of the farmers has funded a saffron extension project that has been initiated after successful trials of saffron cultivation in Byalla village of Poonch district.
And in addition, he visited Kishtwar Saffron farms on Wednesday.

BILAL HABIB