Afghanistan on Thursday exported 12 tonnes of apples to India, officials said, touting the shipment as a key step in exploring much-needed international markets for its agricultural products. The apples were sent to New Delhi via air and road, as part of efforts to encourage farmers to grow crops other than opium. With international support, Afghanistan has tried to reduce opium production but still supplies more than 90 percent of the world market for the drug.
"Today makes history," Agriculture Minister Mohammad Asif Rahimi told a press conference at Kabul airport before an Air India plane carrying three tonnes (3.3 tons) of Afghan apples took off for New Delhi. Nine tonnes were sent by road through neighbouring Pakistan, the minister said. "This is the first time that we export apples to India. This is a very major step in enhancing our farmers' economy," he added. Rahimi said about 400 tonnes of apples will be shipped to India this season.
Afghanistan's agriculture sector has suffered badly during 30 years of war, driving many farmers to grow opium, a lucrative crop with which other products have not been able to compete. India, now a rising global economic power, was a major export market for Afghan produce when Afghanistan was at peace in the 1960s and 70s.
The apples are crossing the famed Silk Road that in ancient times linked South Asia to Central Asia, China and Europe. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates the Taliban, waging a worsening insurgency in Afghanistan, earned 90-160 million dollars a year from taxing production and smuggling opium and heroin between 2005 and 2009.
Rahimi said fruit exports were a way of encouraging poppy growers to switch to other crops. "This is an alternative," he said, referring to apples. Afghanistan has already had limited exports of other fruits and vegetables to the Gulf. Ghulam Dastgir, one of the farmers and apple exporters, said he will earn about four times more if his products are sold outside the country. In Kabul, Dastgir's apples can earn him 25 Afghanis (50 cents) per kilogram but sales in India can reap him up to two dollars. "I'm very happy," the farmer said.