<span style="color: #222222;">Aimed at enhancing farmer income, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) and Government of Himachal Pradesh have entered into a strategic partnership to boost cultivation of Saffron and Heeng in the country. Annual demand for Saffron in the country is 100 tons per year but its average production is about 7 tons, which results in a large amount of import.Currently about 1200 tons of raw heeng worth 600 crore rupees is being imported from Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan. <br />''<br />''To facilitate production of these two most expensive spices in the world, new initiatives of transfer of innovations by means of capacity building and skill development of prospective farmers will be done. Under the partnership, IHBT will provide technical know-how to the farmers, impart training to state agriculture department officers and farmers, and set up corm and seed production centres of Saffron and heeng. Proposal to set up a state of the art tissue-culture lab for large-scale production of quality planting material of these crops has also been outlined by the state government.</span><br />