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Saffron harvest begins in India


Yawar Nazir / Getty Images Contributor

A Kashmiri farmer picks saffron flowers in a farm on Monday, Nov. 05, 2012 in Pampore, south of Srinagar the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, India. The production of Saffron, the precious spice owing to vast acreage, is falling rapidly in Indian Administered Kashmir. Farmers have become concerned at the falling yield of the saffron crop year after year with the changing climatic conditions responsible for a 50 to 60 percent decrease in the yield for the last two decades. Approximately 5,000 flowers are required to provide threads enough to make an ounce. Saffron is a precious spice because of the vast acreage involved in addition to the labor-intensive handpicking of the flowers and extracting of the tiny threads.



Yawar Nazir / Getty Images Contributor

A Kashmiri farmer holds a threads, or crocus, from saffron flowers

http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/

Beautiful colors!