DESTAQUES DA HISTÓRIA DO AÇAFRÃO DO AFGANISTÃO

“Whenever you go to Herat city, you can imagine easily that Afghanistan is an important country to produce this expensive and healthy piece and Herat Province is the main core producing and Herat city is the beating heart of this process.

” Saffron can be cultivated in many areas. Economically, if each family had half a jerib or one jerib of land for saffron, they would be saved from poverty “

DESTAQUES DA HISTÓRIA DO AÇAFRÃO DO AFGANISTÃO

• • Farmers in Herat Province have shown that saffron cultivation could replace poppy production as a lucrative means of income.

• • The Government of Afghanistan through initiatives such as the Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Program, supported by the World Bank and Afghanistan Rehabilitation Trust Fund, is encouraging farmers and educating them on saffron cultivation and its benefits.

• • Saffron cultivation is also providing job opportunities to women since they perform 80 percent of the production activities.

HERAT CITY, Herat Province – “Saffron, the most precious gift of Herat Province!” This note appears on the window of a small kiosk at Herat International Airport garnering the attention of travelers.

“Whenever you go to Herat city, you can imagine easily that Afghanistan is an important country to produce this expensive and healthy piece and Herat Province is the main core producing and Herat city is the beating heart of this process.

A few time walking to the streets of Herat can lead you to the shops and offices who are dealing Saffron. Buying this expensive stigma is not so hard than any other city, because you have many option to buy different type and price.

According to the National Union of Saffron Growers (NUSG), Herat Province currently produces more than %70 of Afghanistan’s saffron although farmers in 25 other provinces grow it too. More than 6,000 Herati farmers grow saffron and some 18 companies sell and export it abroad. Saffron production reaches 18 tons annually in this province, 60-80 percent of which is exported. NUSG’s data also show saffron cultivation is more prevalent in Ghoryan, Pashtun Zarghoon, Enjil and Gozara compared to other districts in Herat Province. 

• ” Saffron can be cultivated in many areas. Economically, if each family had half a jerib or one jerib of land for saffron, they would be saved from poverty “

Saffron production in Afghanistan dates back to thousands years ago, due to its geographical location which has located at the Westside of Khorasan Province of Iran and all these areas named “Khorasan” before was born Afghanistan in 1747. This geographical participation caused that the saffron cultivation was forgotten completely until some three decades ago when some Afghans who had been acquainted with saffron cultivation and production in Iran returned and decided to continue the practice in Ghoryan district in Herat Province. This trend, which started with 60 square meters of land, moved so fast that now more than thousand hectares of land in Herat are under saffron cultivation.

The lucrative harvest of saffron drew the government’s attention, giving rise to the idea that saffron can become a good source of income for rural inhabitants. Thus, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MAIL) imported 18 tons of saffron from Iran and the pilot cultivation phase started. Four years later, it was clear that the result was better than expected.

• Increasing saffron production, decreasing poppy cultivation

The Government of Afghanistan and international community have been trying for some years to increase saffron production as well as raise awareness of its benefits. This is aimed at discouraging farmers from poppy cultivation and reducing poppy in the country. Poppy cultivation has been started mostly since 1978 when the first Republic of Afghanistan was collapsed with intervention of Soviet Union and civil wars had been started and tenths of militants groups were born throughout of Afghanistan to fight against the government which was settled with direct intervention of Soviet Union and these groups desired to plant poppy cultivation due to its high cost and the best option for these kind of groups to earn their conflicts expenses at the lack of powerful government.  According to the United Nations Office for Drug and Crime, Afghanistan is become  the top poppy producers in the world during these four decades.

Although, there was passed a short time less than three decades of saffron (Rebirth), in Afghanistan, but could upgraded and achieved the first level on quality in three years seriously from 2019-2021  by “European Union International Taste Institute” which has located in Belgium and second on amount in world saffron ranking qualification that is not comparable with others competitors that each one of them has thousands and hundreds years of experience in the field.  

• More jobs for women

Cultivation and production of saffron creates numerous job opportunities, especially for women who perform 80 percent of the activities including harvesting, refining, and packaging.

Beheshta Karimi, a young woman in her twenties, works for saffron’s company. She is responsible for refining and packaging the produce. In this capacity, she oversees around 10 other women and works alongside them in a small room. Desks are arrayed in the corners of the room and the women calmly carry out their activities behind these desks.

“We start at 8 in the morning and by 5 in the afternoon, we must prepare one kilogram of saffron ready for packaging,” says Beheshta. She receives a salary of Afghani 7,000 (about $120) and her subordinates receive Afghani 5,000 (about $87) per month. She does not consider her work difficult and says that her colleagues are extremely happy to have this job opportunity.