Afghanistan at the Green Week saffron from the Hindu Kush

Tasty. Many questions have visitors who visit the state of Afghanistan at the Green Week. - was raised for the first time at the Green Week. The country urgently needs a trade partner for its goods. In the 1970s, Afghanistan was one of the leading exporters of dry fruits.

It is the spice of "1001", smells strong and sweet: saffron, the dried stamens of a crocus. For centuries, it is considered a flavor of the Kings, as a remedy. Even the Chinese promised saffron for sale to them more energy, long before Christ's birth. The saffron is also the most expensive spice in the world. The small three-gram box at the booth in Hall 7.2a Afghanistan at the Green Week is 15 €. Who his nose in the large glass vase beside it keeps sniffing at the smell of several thousand euros. Most visitors leave it then, even when testing olfaction.

The two saffron traders and eleven other exporters of saffron powder for sale from the war-torn country to present this year for the first time at the fair.

You want to convey a different image of their country, away from terror, Taliban and opium. And they want to again play in the global economy. In the 1970s, Afghanistan was one of the leading exporters of dry fruits. "But the war the economy was destroyed, broken off all markets," tell the dealer. One of the saffron dealer could already conclude a lucrative contract with a U.S. company. In Afghanistan, the plant is to displace the opium poppies from the fields with which the country was unwilling to the world's leading exporter of heroin. A similar role for nine years, also rose, said Mohammad Akbar Mohmand. He stands on a black table, and sold roses and rose oil. Derived from the project "Roses for Nangarhar, which he in the same province in the east, near the border with Pakistan, heads the World Hunger Relief. Meanwhile, build 720 farmers on 101 hectares, said the 58-year-old Mohmand. He speaks slowly and softly, German he learned while studying in Leipzig.

Some people look skeptical over to the bearded Mohmand in his traditional clothing. You walk past the stands, which are a replica of the minaret of the mosque set up in Herat. On the wall behind bulk saffron for sale to them hangs a large poster of a landscape and a village next to the oversized image of Afghans. Most fairgoers to stop but to try the green raisins, dried apricots and mulberries. Buy colorful silk scarves and blue glass and ceramics from Herat Istalif. "The country has enormous potential," says a staff officer of the Bundeswehr, who was six months stationed there. At the stands, he tried the purple pomegranate - which had not existed in the military camps. The 17-year-old Ahmad from Neukölln is proud to present how the land of his father.

Michael Brenncke from Neukölln knows the state only heard about his son, a soldier. Now he wants to gain an impression. The Afghan seller observe what the show is rarely the case: the visitors are really interested in the country.