Kandahar pomegranates and Herat saffron: when they are in season and what they cost

Kandahar's pomegranates

Kandahar is the heart of Afghan pomegranate growing. About 15,000 hectares of orchards gave nearly 274,000 tonnes in the solar year 1404 (2025 to 2026), says Pajhwok. Arghandab and Dand are the best-known districts.

Photo: Tal Surasky

• Season. Wikipedia gives the harvest as the end of September through November, which is Mizan, Aqrab and the first days of Qaws on the Afghan calendar.
• Kinds. The Kandahari is a large, ruby-red pomegranate. The badana has soft seeds and is liked for eating and for juice.
• Price. Pajhwok reported on 11 December 2025 that Kandahar pomegranates sold for 200 to 250 afghanis per man. Pajhwok gives a man as 4.5 kg, so that is roughly 45 to 55 afghanis a kilo.
• This year may be cheaper. In September 2026 FreshPlaza reported that grape and pomegranate prices in Kandahar had fallen by 50 to 70 per cent, because the Pakistani border crossings were closed to trade. Fruit once went out through Spin Boldak; now only small amounts leave by air, at twice the transport cost, an official of the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce told FreshPlaza.

Close to 23,000 tonnes were exported from Kandahar in 1404, to Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Malaysia and, for the first time, Qatar. Pajhwok adds that pomegranate juice factories have recently been set up inside Afghanistan.

Herat's saffron

Herat grows about 95 per cent of Afghanistan's saffron, on about 10,500 of the country's roughly 12,000 hectares, says the Malaysian news agency Bernama (January 2026).

Photo: Mohammad Amiri

• Season. Arab News writes that the harvest usually begins in October or November and lasts only a few weeks, before the flowers wilt.
• How it is made. The flowers are picked by hand. The tiny orange threads (stigmas) are then separated and dried. About 440,000 of them make one kilo.
• Who does the work. Arab News says about 95 per cent of the workers in Herat's saffron companies are women.
• Price. In January 2026 a kilo sold for around 100,000 afghanis at home, with prices rising. That is about 100 afghanis a gram.
• Exports. In 2025 Afghanistan exported 38 tonnes of saffron, worth more than 67.5 million US dollars, to Europe, the Arab world and the Americas.

Buying well

• Ask the price per kilo or per man, and the year. Pomegranate prices fall in the weeks when most of the crop arrives. Check the day's food prices on the prices page.
• Saffron is sold by the gram. At about 100 afghanis a gram, a seller who offers a much lower price per gram should be asked why.

Saffron is costly and easy to pass off as something else. Buy from a shop you know, from a Herat producer you can name, or from someone your family trusts, and never pay in advance to a seller you have only met by phone or message.

Where to go next

Read about Herat and Kandahar, and the dishes and foods of each city in food across Afghanistan. Pomegranates are also eaten on the longest night of the year: see Shab-e Chella. To compare afghanis with your currency, use the rate page.