Many tourists visiting Kanthalloor, which is in Idukki district,  these days are curiously visiting the saffron farm. However, since the flowers were already harvested they are a bit disappointed.

“Many tourists are coming to my farm to see the saffron. But the flowers are already harvested,” says farmer Ramamoorthy, who  cultivated saffron with the support of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) under the ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute.

Since KVK is planning to cultivate saffron in more farms in Kanthalloor as well as nearby locations, it will be a boost to Kanthaloor’s tourism in the dues course, he added.

Kanthalloor panchayat president P T Mohandas said that already a major chunk of tourists visiting Kanthalloor were keen to see various fruits and vegetable farms in the region. Hence saffron is definitely an added attraction. The region also has a host of farm tourism centres providing accommodation at farms.

Kanthalloor received the ‘Gold’ award in the best rural tourism project category for Kerala tourism’s STREET (Sustainable, Tangible, Responsible, Experiential, Ethnic, Tourism) project. It envisaged tourism projects that suit the culture and topography of each region. Kanthalloor also implemented women-friendly tourism and introduced  special women tour packages to encourage female solo travellers and female-only tour groups.