Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) said on Sunday government plans to expand the cultivation of saffron by over  3,000 hectares of land next year in a move to boost the domestic economy. 

Currently saffron is cultivated in 31 provinces across Afghanistan and early estimates put next year’s harvest at about eight tons.  

Meanwhile, a number of saffron farmers in the country welcomed the move but said government needs to provide more support to the sector. 

Based on MAIL statistics, this year Afghanistan harvested almost 6.5 tons of saffron.

“This year we harvested nearly 6.5 tons of saffron which was beyond our expectations after we noticed that more land had been cultivated with the herb, so we plan to increase this figure next year,” said MAIL spokesman Lotfullah Rashid. 

“Appropriate work has been done for the expansion of saffron (cultivation), we hope that more efforts are made for the marketing of saffron,” said Baraktullah Rahmati, the owner of a saffron export company. 

Currently Afghanistan exports its saffron to a number of countries including the UAE and India. However Afghan saffron is yet to make its way to the lucrative Chinese market. 

Saffron exporters have called on government to take steps to open up the Chinese market for them.