page_title: Pomegranate production in Afghanistan
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pomegranate production in Afghanistan / History
caption_attribution_description: English: MAYMANEH, Afghanistan (Oct. 30, 2007) Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Wright, assigned to the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, cuts up pomegranates to put out as a snack. In addition to his duties as a cook, Wright is also responsible to order and store all supplies; and for all maintenance, hygiene and upgrades to the galley. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David M. Votroubek (Released)
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: Consuming an Afghan pomegranate
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "071030-N-7415V-007\nMAYMANEH, Afghanistan (Oct. 30, 2007)  Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Wright, assigned to the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, cuts up pomegranates to put out as a snack. In addition to his duties as a cook, Wright is also responsible to order and store all supplies; and for all maintenance, hygiene and upgrades to the galley. U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David M. Votroubek (Released)", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2007:12:07 14:07:23", "Image Artist": "MC1 DAVID M. VOTROBEK, USN", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Public Domain", "Image ExifOffset": "768", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1518", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6967", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:10:31 07:03:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:10:31 07:03:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "45", "EXIF SubSecTime": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1500", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2100", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1392", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "67", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}