A Christian aid project in Afghanistan is encouraging farmers away from the cultivation of poppy used to make heroin, by helping them to grow saffron instead.
Shelter Now, a Christian aid agency, hopes that saffron - the world's most expensive spice - could end Afghan farmers' financial dependency on poppy harvests. Udo Stolte, the head of Shelter Now, said the project in the western Afghan province of Herat had enjoyed its first good saffron harvest, a year after the programme was launched.
The agency was now ready to begin selling saffron in Germany, Stolte added. The bright orange-coloured spice is harvested from the flower of a specific type of crocus. The farmers participating in the project were given crocus bulbs, trained and provided with initial funds to buy fertilizer.
Shelter Now receives a quarter of the harvest in each of the first four years, and says the money goes towards expanding the project to other farmers. The long-term goal is for the farmers to become financially independent saffron suppliers.
Saffron is sold in small packages, at a price of 8-10 euro (11-14 US-Dollars) per gramme. A kilogramme of saffron requires up to 150,000 crocus bulbs.
"The cultivation of saffron offers Afghan farmers more profit than growing poppy," Stolte said.
Sources: dpa
