Afghanistan My Last Tour

Initially after arriving in Afghanistan I heard a rumor about the Afghan farmers growing saffron, the world’s most expensive spice.  I didn’t give it much thought until recently and started researching the topic.  On our last mission, an NGO was supposed to attend the village shura and propose the idea to the tribal elders.  The plan was to give farmers saffron bulbs in return for not cultivating poppy.  Unfortunately, the area was too dangerous and the NGO did not show up.  In addition, we were supposed to drive past a saffron field on an adjoining road leading to the village.  Both the AF Captain and I looked for the signs and could not locate them.  Nor did we see the bright purple flowers because this takes place in October and the crocus bulbs (corms) are harvested in August.  I was a bit disappointed, but this provided me the motivation to conduct some additional research on it.

Poppy fields in Yakdand mountains

Despite being against Islamic law (illicit drugs), Afghanistan is responsible for supplying almost 90% of the world’s opium poppy, the raw material for manufacturing heroin.  The Afghan government in conjunction with foreign countries is trying to find alternative crops for the Afghans to grow in place of poppy.  Considering Afghanistan relies on 90% of foreign aid donations for their survival, they can’t grow enough wheat or crops to sustain themselves.  Approximately 12% of the land here is arable and almost 6% of it is used for growing poppy.  The biggest challenge the government faces is convincing farmers to switch crops because of the profit realized in raising poppy.  Until recently, opium poppy was the most profitable cash crop grown in Afghanistan.  It’s estimated the Taliban has reaped over $400 million profits from the illegal sale of poppy, thus fueling their ability to purchase weapons, supplies, equipment, etc.  But now due to overproduction of poppy, growing saffron has become more profitable.

Saffrom plant in Afghanistan

Historically, saffron was grown here in 1973-74 as part of an experimental government program.  But due to the war, the project was dropped.  When the refugees started returning in 1991-92, they smuggled in the crocus bulbs from Iran.  Presently Iran controls 94% of the world saffron market.  To ensure a hefty price, Iran allegedly transports their saffron to foreign countries and then sells it under a different country origin.  When the Taliban started ruling in 1996, they banned growing saffron and forced the farmers to grow poppy instead.  In a stark turnaround when the price of opium dropped in world markets, Taliban leader Mullah Omar issued a decree banning poppy in 2000-01.  Many feel this was an attempt to boost the price of opium on the world market.  Subsequently, shortly after the US ousted the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan farmers resumed growing the lucrative poppy.  In a few years, Afghanistan became the number one opium producer in the world with Myamar trailing in second.
One of the major challenges of growing alternative crops after growing poppy is that it takes several years for the soil to be restored to normal to include growing wheat.  Saffron is much easier to grow than poppy and it requires less water and fertilizer too.  Saffron fields are only irrigated once or twice during the winter gestation period.   This is quite beneficial since Afghanistan is still enduring a severe drought season.  It also requires less people to harvest saffron than poppy and the plants can be harvested for 6 years before new bulbs have to be planted.  Poppy is grown from seed and has to be planted every year.  Coincidentally I took joy when our forces discovered and our aircraft dropped 1000 lb bombs on a 290 ton stockpile of poppy seeds belonging to the insurgency.  This action will prevent 40,000 acres of poppy from being planted and take a bite out of the insurgents’ profits.
Each saffron crocus flower produces 3 stigmas (red filaments).  Each thread is approximately 0.8 inches long and it takes about 150, 000 – 170,000 flowers to equate to 1 kilogram of saffron.  A kilogram of saffron is worth up to $8000 in the US and European markets.  In Afghanistan it takes about a half acre (jerib) of saffron plants to yield one kilogram of saffron threads.  As the plant and soil matures, that half acre can yield up to 3 kilograms of saffron stigmas.  The saffron like poppy in Afghanistan is painstakingly harvested by hand.  Each flower only lives for 48 hours, thus creating expediency with harvesting.  The red filaments are then air dried for a week or some use electric driers shortening the time to minutes.  If the saffron is not sufficiently dried, it will become infected with fungus.  But if the threads are dried too much, they become brittle and turn to powder when they are handled.  In addition, saffron is graded according to color, taste, and fragrance.  To help determine the quality, a spectrophotometer is used.
I also found it interesting that saffron has multiple uses to include dyes, perfume, and stirred in tea.  Recently, the pharmaceutical industry had identified saffron as a cancer suppressant, creating an even larger demand for this item.  For an Afghan farmer it’s worth switching because the profit from saffron is much more money than the average $200 per month village income.  But until the world markets are opened to Afghan saffron, they cannot compete with dominating giants like Iran, Spain, etc.  Just recently China started moving into the saffron market.  From a personal standpoint, I welcome the competition with hopes that it will drive down the market price and I will be able to afford to cook with it more frequently.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Afghanistan, Deployment, ETT, heroin, opium, poppy, saffron, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, war