Holding a Meeting of National Committee for Supporting Saffron’s Development; selling saffron to Neighbors under the name of Afghanistan

Saratan 20: July 12, 2021
A consultative meeting was held at the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) on enriching technical procedure for quality assurance of exporting of saffron.
The meeting, chaired by Shirshah Amiri, deputy minister of MAIL, and was attended by representatives from several departments and various issues were consulted and discussed.
Mr. Amiri at this meeting said, "Saffron is one of the main and valuable products of our country and our concentration is to promote and boost it more than before, adding that Afghanistan's saffron position has been proven in the world, and for several years now, as a result of efforts of the ministry, experts and farmers, we have witnessed better progress in promotion and development of saffron.”
He says that saffron is bought and sold in some neighboring countries under the name of Afghan saffron and exported to foreign countries through Afghanistan. According to him, this has damaged the position of Afghan saffron.
Shirshah Amiri further said that one of the countries is exporting its saffron under the name of Afghanistan, which damages the position of the country's saffron. He added that we had 21 tons of production last year, but exports were more than production, and this demonstrates that saffron from one of the neighboring countries has entered our country, and this lowers the position of Afghan saffron, which has better quality, taste and flavor.
He further said that the situation of the market has a negative effect on market prices. He stressed that in-order to prevent negative effects on the price of saffron, work should be done on customs tariffs.
Shirshah Amiri adds that according to presidential decree, the smuggling of saffron from some neighboring countries should be stopped, but some departments are not cooperating in this regard. According to him, the lack of cooperation from some departments has caused concern to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Amiri, that the ministry was working on a saffron development program in 32 provinces and asked participants to share their views on final decision and the development of the procedure.
"Five years ago, the saffron cultivation area reached one thousand hectares, now it has reached more than eight thousand hectares," he said. We have potential in this sector, we have customers inside and outside, and Saffron exports were limited to a few countries a few years ago, now they have reached 31 countries."
He said that we are going to be the witness of inaugurating of the Saffron Institute in Herat, which can further assist the development of saffron business.
The meeting was attended by a number of MAIL directors, representatives of the Ministries of Finance and Trade, specialists, professors of agriculture at Kabul University and employees of saffron extension department and expressed their views.
This meeting was set up to include the views of experts on saffron issues to be included in technical procedure for quality assurance of Afghanistan's export saffron.
The technical procedure for ensuring the quality of Afghanistan's export saffron has been developed by General Directorate of Extension of the Ministry of Agriculture in 11 articles. The meeting discussed further development of this procedure.