Our decision to do an episode about the Afghan Saffron Harvest sprouted from our romantic ideas of seas of purple saffron crocuses growing in the rugged fields of Afghanistan. However, after doing some research about the spice’s role in the Herat province, we learned that the episode was much more relevant than previously thought.

Currently Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the world’s opium. Although the drug trade is extremely lucrative for small farmers, it is also volatile and makes for an unstable economy. Put simply, it greatly hinders Afghanistan’s chance for sustainable development. For that reason many European NGOs have been working on developing programs for alternative crops to opium poppies for Afghan farmers. Saffron, also known as Red Gold, is the world’s most expensive spice, and if produced to meet high-quality standards, it could provide farmers with a sustainable and equally valuable alternative to participating in the drug trade.

Although saffron will bring in only about one-third to half as much money than opium poppies for rural farmers, there are many advantages that have NGOs pushing its cultivation as an alternative to opium. For starters, its independence from the drug trade makes saffron a more stable crop that will promote sustainable growth for the national economy. From a practical standpoint, Saffron crocuses are both grown and harvested later in the season, and thus do not compete with other crops for either water or labor. This means that farmers can grow saffron as well as other crops successfully. Saffron is easily exportable, because of its light weight.

Trial growths in Herat, the western province of Afghanistan, have produced very high yields of top quality saffron. What new producers in this territory have to be careful of is being able to brand their saffron as a high quality product. Without the infrastructure for packaging and shipping, proper marketing, and the reputation of other countries Iranian saffron is often sold at wholesale prices to countries namely Spain, where it is then re-labeled and sold on the world market. Afghan farmers must take on this costly challenge and gain their place in the world market.

Sources:
-Aslami, M. Hashem and Najib Malik,"Harvesting Red Gold in Afghanistan" ICARDA Caravan issue 24, June 2007
-"AFGHANISTAN: Can saffron replace poppy?", IRIN: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79647
-Hein, Treena, “Fields of Gold: Saffron in Afghanistan” http://www.new-ag.info/07/03/focuson/focuson1.php
-Synovitz, Ron, "Afghanistan: Saffron Could Help Wean Farmers Off Opium Poppies". EurasiaNet.org
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp060306.shtml