How Afghanistan Vets Are Trying To Cultivate Peace Through Saffron
At about $15 a gram, saffron is the world's most expensive spice. Rumi Spice has a unique model of employing Afghan farmers who are growing it that aims to double or even triple their annual income. Cristina Hirschkorn/Courtesy of Rumi Spice hide caption
At about $15 a gram, saffron is the world's most expensive spice. Rumi Spice has a unique model of employing Afghan farmers who are growing it that aims to double or even triple their annual income.
When you think of saffron, dark red strands from Spain or Iran may come to mind. But the delicate spice, one of the most expensive and labor-intensive in the world, grows well in another country long plagued by conflict: Afghanistan.
Rumi Spice, a small, enterprising company in Brighton, Mass., is trying to build an Afghan saffron connection for lovers of the spice in the U.S., and cultivate peace through trade.
Behind Rumi Spice is a group of veterans who served in Afghanistan who are now business school students, a lawyer, an Afghan water specialist and farmers the vets met while serving there.
Saffron farmers Haji Zarghon (left) and Haji Ebrahim speak with Abdul Shakhoor Ehrarri, a water applications specialist for Rumi Spice, in Herat Province, Afghanistan during the harvest on Nov. 22, 2014. Abdul Shakhoor Ehrarri/Courtesy of Rumi Spice hide caption
Saffron farmers Haji Zarghon (left) and Haji Ebrahim speak with Abdul Shakhoor Ehrarri, a water applications specialist for Rumi Spice, in Herat Province, Afghanistan during the harvest on Nov. 22, 2014.
The idea for the fledgling company came about in March 2013, when Army veteran Kimberly Jung was chatting with a fellow vet named Keith Alaniz. Alaniz told her about how when serving in Afghanistan, he met a local saffron farmer who had a warehouse full of the valuable spice, with no buyers lined up overseas.
"I was very surprised to find out it grows the best in the climates of Afghanistan with hot winds and dry climate," Jung tells The Salt. "So, I immediately thought, hey, this could be an awesome business opportunity."
Jung and Alaniz teamed up with four others, and the six realized that if they could create a viable market for saffron in the U.S., they could also transform saffron into a cash crop that might one day replace poppy, the crop used to make opium that helps fund the Taliban.
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How Afghanistan Vets Are Trying To Cultivate Peace Through Saffron