Abstract Saffron as the worlds\' most valuable industrial/medicinal product has a great exporting importance in Iran (South Khorasan) and India’s (Jammu and Kashmir) agricultural economics. Presently, Iran with production of more than 70% of the world saffron is ranked as the first, and India with production of 7.0 ton saffron is ranked as third saffron producer, worldwide. In Iran and India importance of saffron besides its exporting value is related to high water productivity, rural employment, and high net profit compared to other crops. This survey has been done in order to find the similarities and differences of saffron production systems in South Khorasan and Kashmir. There are basic climatical differences, such as humidity, altitude, and rainfall in two regions. The main similarity is temperature data in two regions, that might play the key role in saffron growth. Saffron production in Kashmir is rainfed system while in Khorasan it is completely dependent on irrigation. Time of planting and harvesting are similar in two regions, but the rate of corm sowing, and depth of sowing in Khorasan is much higher than Kashmir. Khorasani farmers believe that the flower should be picked up early and every morning, but Kashmiri farmers not only do not do flower picking in early morning, but also do picked the flower one time, every four days. The trend of area under cultivation and production of saffron is increasing in Khorasan but in Kashmir is declining. The price of Kashmiri saffron is pretty higher than Iranian saffron. We could not find any documented differences between saffron of Khorasan and Kashmir, except the shorter style along with stigma in Kashmiri saffron. There is no any governmental or private association to control the quality standards and price of this valuable product in Kashmir, but in Khorasan, there some governmental and producer associations that manitor saffron quality standards. The main destination of Khashmiri saffron export are Spain, France, USA, UK, UAE while Khorasani saffron is mainly exporting to UAE, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland. Kashmiri farmers turn deaf ear when asked to employ new revolutionary methods to increase their productivity due to illiteracy.

Abstract Saffron as the worlds\' most valuable industrial/medicinal product has a great exporting importance in Iran (South Khorasan) and India’s (Jammu and Kashmir) agricultural economics. Presently, Iran with production of more than 70% of the world saffron is ranked as the first, and India with production of 7.0 ton saffron is ranked as third saffron producer, worldwide. In Iran and India importance of saffron besides its exporting value is related to high water productivity, rural employment, and high net profit compared to other crops. This survey has been done in order to find the similarities and differences of saffron production systems in South Khorasan and Kashmir. There are basic climatical differences, such as humidity, altitude, and rainfall in two regions. The main similarity is temperature data in two regions, that might play the key role in saffron growth. Saffron production in Kashmir is rainfed system while in Khorasan it is completely dependent on irrigation. Time of planting and harvesting are similar in two regions, but the rate of corm sowing, and depth of sowing in Khorasan is much higher than Kashmir. Khorasani farmers believe that the flower should be picked up early and every morning, but Kashmiri farmers not only do not do flower picking in early morning, but also do picked the flower one time, every four days. The trend of area under cultivation and production of saffron is increasing in Khorasan but in Kashmir is declining. The price of Kashmiri saffron is pretty higher than Iranian saffron. We could not find any documented differences between saffron of Khorasan and Kashmir, except the shorter style along with stigma in Kashmiri saffron. There is no any governmental or private association to control the quality standards and price of this valuable product in Kashmir, but in Khorasan, there some governmental and producer associations that manitor saffron quality standards. The main destination of Khashmiri saffron export are Spain, France, USA, UK, UAE while Khorasani saffron is mainly exporting to UAE, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland. Kashmiri farmers turn deaf ear when asked to employ new revolutionary methods to increase their productivity due to illiteracy.

Keywords