Umrao Singh Chauhan, a retired gazetted officer who used to work in the Rajasthan assembly, has accomplished an unimaginable feat in the desert state. He has been busy growing saffron plants in backyard of his farmhouse at Pilani. His love of horticulture made him get around 17,000 plants of saffron from Pampore in Kashmir, Deccan Herald has reported.

“My passion for farming made me take voluntary retirement from services at the Rajasthan Assembly last year. I and my wife, who is a retired government teacher, are experimenting with different types of farming at our farmhouse, sprawled over 28 acres. After experimenting with cucumber, tomatoes and green chillies, I thought of growing saffron which is a rare spice and needs certain kind of treatment and temperature.” Chauhan was quoted in the report as saying.

The cost for buying the saplings was around Rs 2.5 lakh. Saffron requires moderate temperature to grow and in order to maintain that Chauhan kept a sprinkler over the poly house.

Chauhan learnt the technique by watching YouTube videos. The plants sprouted in October while the stigma and flowers came out in December.

“We acquired around 60 grams of saffron strands in the first round of farming. We are hoping to get more in March,” Chauhan’s son Pawan told Deccan Herald.