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Trouble in the saffron fields of Afghanistan
Matin Mehrab* authored this report for the Zan Times in Persian, and it was translated into English by Rustam Seerat.
When her husband died in a traffic accident in 2019, Huma* found herself shouldering the financial responsibility of her family. She inherited a house and a hectare of farmland in the Ghorian district in Herat province, an agricultural area renowned for its saffron production.
The quality of Afghan saffron rivals that of Iran and Spain and demands high prices on the world market. As their hectare of land is ideal for growing saffron, Huma and her teenage daughters, with the aid of their younger brother, decided to carry on following her husband’s death. Huma already had considerable agricultural experience, not only working its fields alongside her husband but also taking courses organized by the Herat Agriculture Department for women involved in saffron production.
“The first year was a trial, given that my husband had previously shouldered all responsibilities, and there were many aspects we were unfamiliar with. However, leveraging the knowledge from the training courses and the practical experience with my husband, we began our journey of saffron cultivation,” Huma tells Zan Times. “During that year, our queries related…
