Efforts on to promote saffron cultivation in Helmand

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): The Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Department says efforts are ongoing to promote saffron cultivation in in southern Helmand province.

Haji Shah Mohammad Khan, an official of the department, told Pajhwok Afghan News that research in recent years had found that Helmand’s land was suitable for saffron cultivation.

He said they were trying to persuade growers in Helmand to start growing saffron, a crop that has produced promising results in other provinces of the country.

Meanwhile, farmers in the province — the biggest opium producer — consider saffron a good alternative to the poppy crop.

Kham Mohammad, a grower from Nawa district, said: “Saffron can be an effective alternative to poppy. The agriculture department should provide us with saffron seeds and arrange training programmes for growers.”

Khial Mohammad, a resident of Musa Qala district, said saffron was good for health and gave a better yield than other crops.

Saffron had a good market and could be an alternative to poppy, he believed, saying: “If saffron cultivation becomes a tradition here, people would never cultivate poppy.”

In Helmand, the level of poppy cultivation is higher than in any other province of Afghanistan.

sa/mud

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