UPDATE - Issue 36 - Spring 2009
Afghans to grow pomegranates not opium
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Pomegranates are said to be beneficial for anything from heart disease to prostate cancer due to the anti-oxidant properties of its juice. World demand is rising fast following Afghanistan’s first international pomegranate fair. The hope is that its farmers will become more renowned for producing the ruby-coloured fruit than opium poppies.
Apparently the country has more varieties of the fruit tree than any other part of the world, leading botanists to suggest this is the birthplace of pomegranate cultivation. The seedless bedana variety has been singled out as a potential winner because western consumers prefer seedless fruit.