Sayed Abdul Wahid Sadat, the deputy of Afghanistan’s Saffron Union, states that 85% of saffron processing in the country is carried out by women and girls.
The Bakhtar News Agency, which is under the control of the caretaker government, quoted Mr. Sadat as saying that currently between 50,000 to 60,000 women are employed in saffron processing in Herat province.
The report indicates that more than 50,000 women are working in the saffron industry of the country.
Additionally, the caretaker government had previously announced that following the ban on opium poppy cultivation, saffron cultivation has increased in 26 provinces of Afghanistan.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced earlier this month that last year, 67 tons of saffron worth 49 million dollars were exported to nine different countries.
Previously, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that at the 2024 Paris exhibition, it successfully secured a large order for the purchase of 600 kilograms of Afghan saffron.
According to this agency, the annual sales value of this order amounts to one million seventy thousand dollars.
Furthermore, the International Institute of Taste in Belgium announced that Herat saffron ranked first in terms of flavor after laboratory testing.
