A number of Saffron traders in northern Herat province on Sunday said due to the lack of processing facilities, they sell their saffron to Turkey and Iran who in turn sell the processed and packaged product to the Unites States and Europe as their own. 
 
The saffron traders said they also sell the raw product to Iran and Turkey cheaply. 
 
 
“We send the saffron to Turkey for standardized processing and packaging and then it is sent to United States and Europe,” said Abdul Shokor, a saffron trader.
 
“Sometimes the country processing and packaging our saffron is selling it as their own to the United States and Europe,” said Abdul Khaliq Khudadadi, owner of a saffron company.
 
In addition to the lack of standard processing and packaging facilities, the saffron produced in the province is not harvested according to the standards that have been set. 
 
Traders said saffron farmers need to be trained in the correct methods to harvest the raw product. 
 
“Farmers do not know enough on how to collect and harvest saffron and this causes a number of challenges,” Abdul Shokor, a saffron trader said.
 
Currently Iran is the biggest saffron exporter in the world but in the past few years, Herat’s saffron has been cited as the best in the world.