Pomegranate production in Afghanistan

Pomegranate production in Afghanistan is a significant contributor to the Afghan agricultural economy. Pomegranates are a major fruit crop in many provinces such as Kandahar, Helmand, Wardak, Ghazni, Paktia, Farah, Kapisa and Balkh, and are the source of the livelihoods of thousands of people.

Afghanistan is known as "the country of the pomegranate fruit" in view of not only its conventional methods of cultivation but also for the quality of the landraces grown.

Some leading botanists believe that Afghanistan is the cradle of world pomegranate production. Afghanistan has more varieties of pomegranate trees than anywhere else in the world.

Since the 1970s, political turmoil and wars have ravaged the country; this has had a serious effect on exporting the fruit to its biggest markets in Pakistan and India.

Since the end of the war, there has been a re-emergence in the pomegranate industry in Afghanistan. In 2009, several hundred thousands pomegranate trees were planted and the nation exported some 50,000 tons of the fruit. In October 2009 a £6 million juice factory was constructed in Kabul to make juice concentrate from the fruit as it becomes more commercially viable; increasing demand on the world market has seen local market prices rise from 34p a kilogram to £1 a kilogram since 2009.

In 2010 the new Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) was signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which permits Afghan traders to export local agricultural produce by road to Indian the markets via the Wagah border post.

In October 2010 it was reported that fighting in Kandahar province has had a serious effect on farms and livelihoods with farmers unable to work on their farms because of the war.

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Wikipedia