Afghanistan sees record pine nut harvest, workers struggle as prices drop

KHOST, Afghanistan, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- In the rugged mountains of eastbound Afghanistan, wherever past conifer forests susurration secrets to the wind, a bountiful harvest has arrived similar a fleeting blessing.

Once a uncommon delicacy that enchanted discerning palates successful distant countries, Afghanistan's prized conifer nuts person flourished this play successful unprecedented abundance.

However, for families clinging to endurance successful a onshore scarred by decades of havoc, these nuts correspond not sustenance, but dreams deferred.

Jahed, a weathered laborer from eastbound Paktia province, embodies the quiescent resilience of those drawn to this seasonal lifeline.

Each year, arsenic the harvest beckons, helium journeys to Khost city, the bustling provincial superior of Khost province, wherever helium toils from dawn's archetypal airy until dusk. He is the sole supplier for his woman and six children, a household depending connected his calloused hands. "We get present successful the greeting and enactment until six successful the evening," Jahed told Xinhua.

Earning a meager 200 to 300 afghanis (about 3 to 4.45 U.S. dollars) per day, hardly capable to stave disconnected hunger, helium laments the paradox of plenty: "This year, the output has accrued significantly, but prices person plummeted." Yet, successful the bushed of the season, Jahed discovers glimmers of joy. "With the accomplishment of the conifer seed harvest, my household and I are overjoyed," helium said.

These conifer nuts, calved chaotic and untamed successful Afghanistan's eastbound hilltops, flourish people crossed the eastbound provinces, including Khost.

Their forests, perched connected unforgiving slopes, output a harvest that sustains communities agelong isolated by geography and conflict. Ahmad, a seasoned conifer seed mill proprietor successful Khost with a decennary of acquisition nether his belt, oversees a squad of 30 workers amid the hum of processing machines. "Compared to erstwhile years, the output has accrued manifold," helium said.

Delving into the nuances of quality, Ahmad explains the subtle artistry of nature: "Pine nuts from lukewarm mountainous regions are sparse successful seed, portion those from colder highlands are plump and full; traders overwhelmingly similar the latter."

With 13 years of contented and an intimate cognition of marketplace ebbs and flows, Haji Shahzad, caput of Khost's Pine Nuts Traders Union, credits the surge, a threefold increase, to nature's benevolence and quality toil: timely monsoon rains, balmy weather, and the unyielding dedication of farmers. "The harvest from conifer seed forests this twelvemonth is 3 times higher than past year," Shahzad told Xinhua.

During the harvest's feverish peak, implicit 100,000 radical crossed the forested provinces immerse themselves successful the labour of cleaning, processing, and packaging, a symphony of hands transforming earthy bounty into hope.

Yet, successful patriarchal Afghanistan, peculiarly its agrarian heartlands, wherever traditions tally heavy similar past roots, women's voices often stay veiled.

Zharghona, a diligent idiosyncratic successful a Khost processing factory, softly challenges this silence. Reluctant to stock her existent sanction oregon talk straight with strangers, she finds intent successful the intricate, accepted creation of hand-cleaning conifer nuts. "Each day, I cleanable 1 oregon 2 sacks," she said softly, her hands moving with rhythmic grace.

With her earnings, she buys tea, sugar, and grain, elemental treasures that nourish her household and affirm her worthy successful a satellite that seldom celebrates her.

In Zharghona's story, arsenic successful Jahed's, lies the essence of Afghanistan's conifer seed harvest, a tapestry of endurance wherever abundance meets inequity, and each effect carries the value of quality aspiration.