The Consortium
A consortium of Afghan producers, united under one standard.
The Afghan Zafaran Consortium brings together saffron producers from the Herat region, each contributing their own harvest, under a single shared standard: how members are admitted, how saffron is purchased from the growers, and how every lot is controlled before it is packed.
The purpose is simple: that Afghan saffron reaches professional buyers with the same guarantees an origin scheme provides in Europe, and that the value and the name of Afghan saffron remain in Afghanistan.
Origin
Born from a national program to bring Afghan saffron to the world.
The Afghan Zafaran Consortium was formed within ACEBA, a program to build the competitiveness of Afghan export businesses. Out of that work came a simple idea: that the country's saffron producers would go further together, under one shared standard, than each one alone.
What began as a group of independent producers became a structured consortium, with rules for admission, purchasing and lot control, and a single quality standard carried by every member. From the start, its purpose has been to reach professional buyers abroad with the guarantees an origin scheme provides, and to keep the value and the name of Afghan saffron in Afghanistan.
Members
The producers behind the seal.
The Consortium is made up of its member producers, all based in Herat, each an independent company with its own brand. They are shown here as equals, the way a denomination of origin lists the houses that belong to it.
Consortium
Afghan Zafaran Consortium
President
Abdul Khaleq Khodadady
Herat
Member company
Rayan Herat Saffron Producing Processing and Packing Company
Directed by
Abdul Ali Noor Ahmadi
Herat
Member company
Yaqut Almadina Saffron Trading Company
Directed by
Hamed Rahmani
Herat
Member company
Raihan Banafsh Agriculture And Livestock Services Company
Directed by
Abdul Wakil Akbari
Herat
Member company
Green Farm Agricultural and Livestock Company
Directed by
Amena Haidary
Herat
Member company
Amarat Mohammadi Saffron Production Producing And Packaging Company
Directed by
Younis Mohammadi
Herat
Member company
Zaraate Herat Sabz
Directed by
Azada Ghiasi
Herat
Member company
Shams Rufoq Saffron Agricultural And Livestock Co.
Directed by
Bibi Maliha Shams
Herat
Member company
Mowafaq Herat Saffron Trading Co.
Directed by
Nasir Ahmad Nabil
Herat
Member company
Noor Saffron Trading Company
Directed by
Ahmad Qoli Mohammadi
Herat
Member company
Women Marof Saffron Agricultural and Livestock Company
Directed by
Adela Yama
Herat
Leadership
Women lead here, they are not a slogan.
Three of the member companies are directed by women: Green Farm Agricultural and Livestock Company, Shams Rufoq Saffron Agricultural And Livestock Co., and Women Marof Saffron Agricultural and Livestock Company. Their names, their companies and their faces are in the grid above this line, in the open, and they sit in the Consortium's working meetings alongside the members who direct the rest.
The growers
A farmer network that grows season after season.
Behind the member companies stands a large and growing network of farmers across the Herat region, the people who plant, tend and harvest the saffron. Their number rises with every campaign as more growers join the Consortium. The members purchase from these farmers under the Consortium's rules, and each lot is recorded from the field before it is packed.
Governance
A real organization, with rules that are written down.
The Consortium operates under a written Code of Ethics, Labor and Quality Principles, adopted by all its members. It is what turns a group of producers into a single, accountable body.
- Admission.
- Members are admitted against defined criteria, not open to anyone.
- Purchasing.
- Saffron is bought from registered growers, recorded at farm level: who grew it, which district, how much, and when it was harvested.
- Lot control.
- Every lot is identified, coded and controlled before packing, and its records are held in a central registry in Herat.
- One quality standard.
- All members commit to a single quality standard for the saffron sold under the seal.
- Compliance and sanctions.
- A compliance committee oversees the rules, with corrective actions and sanctions that can go as far as expulsion.
The Consortium
The Red Gold of Afghanistan
Social commitment
One percent of every sale goes back to the community.
The members of the Consortium commit one percent of all revenue generated through Consortium sales to a common social fund, supporting rural families, women and children's education in the saffron-growing communities. The commitment is signed by every member and reviewed each year.
Structure
From the field to the buyer, one path: roles within AZC
The Consortium follows a single path, from the grower in the field to the professional buyer abroad. Every stage is defined, and every lot travels through all of them.
The growers.
Saffron is grown by the farmer network and purchased by the member producers under the Consortium's rules, recorded from the field.
Processing and packing.
The members' saffron is brought to one food-safety and quality standard, then processed and packed at the Consortium's facility in Herat.
International representation.
The Consortium is represented in international markets by a single international partner, its point of contact for professional buyers abroad. See the next section.
International representation
One point of contact outside Afghanistan.
The Consortium is represented in international markets by the Marecibum Group, with delegations in Europe and the United States. Marecibum represents and defends the interests of the Consortium abroad and acts as the single point of contact for professional buyers, handling the commercial, contractual and logistical side of every order.
Marecibum acts as the Consortium's representative, not as a buyer or a reseller. The saffron remains the Consortium's throughout; Marecibum represents it, so that professional buyers deal with one accountable, established counterpart in their own market rather than with each producer separately.
The Consortium's processing and packing facility in Herat is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and each shipment travels with the documentation required for an importer's Foreign Supplier Verification Program.
Gallery
In & Out Afghanistan
One standard
One standard, from the field to the tin.
Every member, every farmer and every lot answers to the same standard, so that whatever reaches a professional buyer carries the guarantee of the Consortium behind it.