Figures by Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) show that Afghanistan has exported figs valued almost $47 million in the last 10 months.
The figures show that farmers have harvested at least 25,000 tons of figs in the past 10 months.
The ACCI spokesman Jan Agha Nawid said India, United Arab Emirates, Canada and a number of European countries are the biggest buyers of Afghanistan’s figs.
“One of the biggest problems for the Afghan dried and fresh fruits is processing and packaging in line with international standards,” said Nawid.
“We sell figs for AFN800 [almost $11] per kilogram,” said Humayun Mohammadi, a dried fruit seller.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Akbar Rustami, said that Afghan investors signed contracts on figs export with different countries valued $10 million during the Gulfood exhibition held in Dubai from February 17 to 21.
Rustami said the total contracts which the Afghan investors signed at the agricultural fair valued up to $35 million.
“So far, Kandahar figs have had the most selling and figs selling contracts have been signed that value up to $10 million,” said Rustami.
Fig is produced in most of Afghanistan big provinces such as Herat, Balkh, Farah, Zabul, and Jawzjan. But southern Kandahar province is known as the center of fig production as almost 6,000 tons of dried figs worth almost $34 million was exported to India from the province.
