KABUL (SW) – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that a major buyer has placed an annual order for 600 kilograms of saffron from Afghanistan.
The agency added that, at the Paris exhibition, it successfully secured an order worth $1.7 million for the sale of Afghan saffron from a major buyer, which will have a positive impact on the global standing of the country’s saffron.
USAID stated in a post on its X account: “Afghan saffron has caught the attention of major buyers at global exhibitions.”
At the same time, some saffron traders in Afghanistan report facing difficulties in transferring money to Afghanistan after selling saffron abroad.
Mohammad Ebrahim Adel, the head of the Herat Saffron Growers Union, said: “It has become a problem that when saffron is sold abroad, companies are forced to convert their money through money changers, and they are forced to pay a commission of $2,000 for every $100,000, which is a very big problem for exporters.”
Sharifa Omidwar, a member of the union, calls on the de-facto government and international organizations to make efforts to promote and sell Afghan saffron in global markets.
“Our request is not only from the Islamic Emirate, but also from all aid organizations to announce their cooperation with us and work toward promoting and selling saffron in global markets,” she said.
Meanwhile, officials at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the de-facto government state that, in the first six months of the this year, 18 tons of saffron worth over $20 million were exported from Afghanistan to various countries.
Akhundzada Abdul Salam Javad, spokesperson for the ministry, mentioned that “the largest exports going to India, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.”
Meanwhile, officials at the de-facto Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock state that, to support saffron growers in the country, the ministry has undertaken activities such as establishing demonstration plots, distributing saffron seeds, providing processing and packaging equipment, and offering technical guidance.
Misbahuddin Mustaeen, spokesperson for the ministry of agriculture, said: “According to data from the National Statistics and Information Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2023, a total of 8,304 hectares of land across 26 provinces were cultivated with saffron, and from this, 23.249 metric tons of saffron were harvested.”
The Ministry of Agriculture had previously stated that, in the current solar year, Afghan saffron ranked first in the world for taste for the ninth time.
