Land under saffron cultivation up by 800 hectares this year

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): The 2nd Saffron Flower National Festival kicked off on Wednesday in western Herat province — a major saffron producing region in Afghanistan.   

The festival at the Maulana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi hall in Herat City, the provincial capital, was attended by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), local officials. At the festival, saffron farmers have displayed the saffron flower with the method how to collect pure saffron.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Abdul Qadeer Jawad, who participated in the festival, expressed happiness over the saffron cultivation situation in Afghanistan and hoped saffron growing would further increase.

He said 2,000 hectares of land was cultivated with saffron crop in the country this year, an 800 hectares increase compared to last year’s cultivation.  

“MAIL has adopted fundamental programmes for marketing and promoting saffron cultivation and production and its export outside the country.”

He didn’t go into details but said saffron yield hovered between four and 5.5 tonnes last year in Afghanistan, of which two tones were exported. According to Abdul Qadeer Jawad, more than 90 percent of Afghanistan’s saffron was grown in Herat.

Herat Governor Mohammad Asif Rahimi stressed economic importance of saffron and public awareness in this regard. He said holding the festival with the beginning of saffron harvest season was a viable time for echoing the flower’s value and economic profit.  

The governor said a quality-testing lab would be soon established in Herat by the MAIL in coordination with the local administration.

Bashir Ahmad Ahmadi, the agriculture department deputy head, expressed happiness over the increase in saffron cultivation and said expansion in saffron cultivation meant more work opportunities for people.

According to him, currently more than 10,000 families are associated with growing and harvesting saffron in Herat, especially in Ghorian, Pashton Zarghon and Zinda Jan districts.

Arbab Abdul Razaq, a saffron farmer, said the government had so far neglected the crops; but he hoped recent promises by MAIL about paving the way for a standardized saffron spice’s process and packaging and export would be implemented.

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the “saffron crocus”. Saffron crocus grows to 20–30 cm (8–12 in) and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are the distal end of a carpel. The styles and stigmas, called threads, are collected and dried to be used mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food.

Saffron is a subtropical plant, which grows well in the areas with mild winter and hot and dry summer. Its harvest begins from mid-November and flowers are generally picked up in time of dawn before the sunrise. The flower’s spice has many therapeutic properties and is also used for creating medicines, giving a good taste to food and hot drinks.

According to local sources, last year the price of one kilogram of saffron spice’s hovered between 110,000 and 130,000 afghanis nearly ($1650-1970).

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