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Afghanistan
Govt Distributes 65,000kg In Saffron Plants
2012-04-30
The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock will distribute 65,000 kilograms of saffron to Afghan farmers, the head of the Saffron Department, Mohammad Mohmand
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
, told TOLOnews.

The Ministry plans to buy saffron plants from farmers with surplus saffron on their lands and distribute it to the farmers in provinces with less cultivation of the plant. It will pay up to 350Afs per kilogram of saffron plants, he added.

The plan will help promote cultivation of saffron all over the country.

According to the Ministry, an acre of land has the capacity to yield up to 800 kilograms of saffron plant. The government will give farmers receiving the distribution up to 400 kilograms of saffron plant each.

Beside technical help, the Agriculture Ministry will also provide tools to cultivate saffron, fertilizer, insecticides and fungicides.

The price of one kilogram of processed saffron in Afghanistan is up to US$3,000 and regionally it can reach as high as $6,000. The international price of saffron reaches up to $8,000 dollars.
How does that compare to the price of opium? More importantly, what is the yield of each per acre? A higher price does no good if the yield is significantly less, right?
Posted by:trailing wife

#2  I'm just wild about Saffron, Saffron's wild about me.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2012-04-30 17:05  

#1  Iran is the Saudi Arabia of saffron right now.

Any extra production anywhere cuts into the persian monopoly.

There is no reason safron couldn't grow well in the southern US (it probably does; safron comes from a type of crocus). However, to do so we would have to invent a mechanical harvesting machine. It takes about an acre to grow 2 pounds of the safron currently. With scientific breeding this could probably be improved a lot.
Posted by: lord garth   2012-04-30 14:14  

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