Two decades ago, agricultural worker Hashim Aslami traveled through Afghanistan telling any farmer who would listen that the future lay in saffron. This expensive spice, he said, sometimes known as “red gold,” was hard to cultivate but paid off in the markets, where a pound can sell for $700—and sometimes more.
The ideas that Aslami proposed in the early 1990s, when he was an idealistic worker hanging onto an idea few thought feasible, have been successful. Today, saffron farming is a rare bright spot in Afghanistan’s agriculture sector. As the country faces yet another draught crisis, saffron remains resilient and profitable.
In fact, according to data from the Afghan government, the cultivation of saffron in the country increased 21 percent to 6,200 hectares in 2018 over the previous year. Exporting it has become a $25 million industry, with Afghanistan becoming the third-largest producer of saffron in the world (behind Iran and India). Saffron production continues to thrive even though Afghanistan remains affected by conflict, harsh weather conditions, and an unstable government.
Agriculture experts, including Aslami, who is now Afghanistan’s top saffron advisor, are pinning great hopes on this delicate red spice, which is priced highly because it’s so difficult to harvest correctly. Because it’s so lucrative, they hope it will be a viable alternative to farming poppies—the plant opium is made from. Meanwhile, saffron farming continues to employ thousands of seasonal workers and generate income for farmers.
Saffron’s Beginnings in Afghanistan
Aslami’s crusade to introduce saffron to Afghan farmers recently was outlined in The New York Times, which published a feature article tracing his history with the spice. According to the piece, Aslami first learned about saffron as a refugee in Iran.
He had earned an agricultural degree from Kabul University, but after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and installed a communist government there in the late 1970s, Aslami fled to Iran and stayed for 10 years. There, he learned about saffron (Iran is by far the world’s largest producer of the spice), including how to grow and harvest it. He believed producing the spice could be an industry of great promise in Afghanistan.
When Aslami returned to Afghanistan in the 1990s, he traveled around the country, imploring farmers to trade their wheat crops for saffron. Many, however, including Aslami’s boss at the Danish aid organization, thought his ideas weren’t practical because the country was food-scare and in the middle of a severe draught.
Aslami continued to push his ideas, however, arguing that the financial payoff for this difficult-to-manage spice would be worth it. Officials eventually bought in, and Aslami was awarded a $100 grant for a saffron pilot project at four farms in the Herat province. While three of those farmers no longer grow saffron, the one who does has been successful. He enjoys a good income and comfortable lifestyle.
A Tricky Harvest
Saffron is known to be hardy—it grows from a bulb, requires little water, and is not susceptible to high heat and dryness—and difficult to harvest. The opportunity for harvesting is only about three weeks long, as saffron plants only bloom in late October and early November.
Workers handpick the flowers, which each have three stigmas, early in the morning before the blossoms fully open. Because the flowers absorb odors that can then taint the spice, workers must wear clean gloves, clothes, and masks.
Once the flowers are harvested, they are taken to factories. There, workers wearing clean gloves separate the red pistil that each contain three stigmas, which are then dried to make the saffron spice.
Saffron’s Future in Afghanistan
Now, about 24,000 farmers grow saffron in all but one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The market continues to grow, but it continues to face challenges. Afghan saffron is renowned for its quality, and a fraudulent market competitor is becoming more common, with lower-quality Iranian saffron being passed off as an Afghan product. Afghan could lose millions if smugglers continue to bring Iranian saffron into the country, where it is packaged and sold as Afghan saffron.
Afghanistan’s saffron production also lags far behind its poppy production, which is conducted on 263,000 hectares. Saffron generated about $35 million in 2017, while opium brought in $1.4 billion. The country still has a lot of ground to make up in the world saffron market, where Iran sells about 90 percent of the spice.
However, Afghan farmers have received billions of dollars in foreign aid, which has boosted saffron production. The Herat province, where Aslami worked with Afghanistan’s first saffron farmers, remains a leading producer—overall, saffron was cultivated on about 6,200 hectares in Afghanistan in 2018, which is a 21 percent increase from 2017.
Small, positive signs continue to appear. Afghanistan exports saffron to 17 countries now—primarily Indian, China, and some Middle Eastern nations—through new air routes. And the country’s officials proudly maintain that Afghan saffron is best in the world.