Indian Man Grows Precious Saffron In a Shipping Container

This is about a software developer from India who felt that the 9–5 office life was too hollow turned his life around and became an entrepreneur. He created a way for hydroponically growing saffron, and he wants to share it with the rest of the world.

Shailesh Modak, like many entrepreneurs, had to deal with some disappointment along the way to the point when he would earn about $12,000 for less than a kilogram of the most expensive common spice in the world.

This is about a software developer from India who felt that the 9–5 office life was too hollow turned his life around and became an entrepreneur. He created a way for hydroponically growing saffron, and he wants to share it with the rest of the world. Shailesh Modak, like many entrepreneurs, had to deal with some disappointment along the way to the point when he would earn about $12,000 for less than a kilogram of the most expensive common spice in the world.

“I was looking at cash crops and realized that 95% of saffron comes from Pampore in Kashmir,” Modak told The Better India. “While we have so much demand for the spice, we do not have the same amount of supply.” His main challenge was the saffron farmers’ reliance on bulbs to grow this peculiar, triploid, independently-reproducing plant that is never encountered in the wild. He frequently received them in terrible shape. He started utilising hydroponics, a technique that substitutes water and nutrient-rich mist for soil while growing plants. The benefit, according to Modak, is that when crops are produced indoors, the farmer has control over the environment, including the quantity of sunlight and temperature, which lowers the chance of damage and illness.

He added: “The feeling of seeing those flower buds for the first time was incredible. I was so happy, as we were so unsure of whether the flower would bloom or not.”He now receives calls almost every day from other agriculturalists and businesspeople who want to learn more about the methods and intricacies of hydroponically cultivating saffron in containers, which, if widely implemented, could significantly reduce its price.

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