Sowing a different crop
Afghan farmers are turning away from Opium -- from the
Asia Times:
Afghan farmers ditch opium for saffron
HERAT, Afghanistan - Abdul Samad has given up growing poppies. The farmer from Gulmir, from a village in Pashtun Zarghon district of Herat province, has found monetary and spiritual benefits in switching to saffron.
"I always felt sinful when I was growing poppies," he said. "The money brought me no joy, and did not allow me to change my life."
In 2007, Afghanistan supplied more than 90% of the world's opium poppy, the raw material for heroin.
Abdul Samad grew the illegal crop for five years until a new government program helped him make the switch to saffron, the world's most expensive spice.
"I make more money than I used to," he said. "With poppy, I got between US$400 and $600 for each jerib of land. Now I make more than US$5,000." A jerib is approximately half an acre.
The article goes into a good bit of the backstory -- Iran is trying to hold onto its "monopoly" but the Afghani's are just smuggling in the bulbs over the border and growing away. The price of Saffron is now about $3K USD per pound whereas the base black tar opium's price has fallen due to overproduction.
Afghanistan used to be quite the place to visit. Times have changed and maybe things are swinging back again. I would love to visit that area.
Talk about win/win...
Posted by DaveH at June 24, 2009 9:29 PM