KABUL, Afghanistan — This ancient land is telling the world that it has a trendy new replacement for its dreaded poppy crop: sweet, juicy pomegranates.
The country will stamp a logo on all boxes of the pomegranate for export: a drawing of the sliced red fruit with seeds spilling out and a label that announces, “Anar, Afghan Pomegranate.” “Anar” is the word for pomegranate in various regional languages.
Afghanistan officials hope the Western-style sales savvy will raise the pomegranate’s cachet and provide its farmers with a lucrative alternative to growing opium poppies.
It’s the latest step in a $12 million, U.S.-funded initiative to modernize and expand Afghanistan’s pomegranate industry, which has long depended on domestic sales and small-scale exports to nearby countries. Even these exports have been severely hit by years of border fighting.
Even though the Afghan pomegranate is considered one of the best in the world, it has been very much a local delicacy.
