Staff Reporter Peshawar
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Farman Saturday paid a visit to district Chitral and inaugurated a saffron cultivation project in Darosh city and also inspected the locally grown saffron crop in different areas of Darosh.
The Governor received a detail briefing by the Agriculture Department regarding the high potential of saffron cultivation and was informed that 9 lac acres of land in the province including district Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Batgram, Kohistan, Bajaur, Waziristan, Kurram, Orakzai and Khyber has huge potential to cultivate saffron and it would generate 1 thousand billion revenue after successful completion of this project.
Talking to media and local farmers, The Governor said that saffron cultivation project will not only alleviate poverty in the province but will also reduce unemployment? “It would also increase the country’s foreign exchange which would also strengthen the national economy” he added.
He said that this project has been successful not only in Darosh but also in the whole of Chitral and after the success of the pilot project our goal is to spread seeds throughout the region.
He said that saffron cultivation is very easy because it takes only two months to get ready but only awareness is needed.
Referring to the Department of Agriculture, the Governor said that for the first time in history a government has allocated a historic budget to the Department of Agriculture to increase agricultural production and special attention has been given to cultivation of saffron and olive because of the high potential of these sectors.
