Farmers are expected to harvest about 150,000 tons of grapes in Herat province this year.

Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)_Monitoring, The Herat Department of Agriculture and Livestock said more than 60 percent of these grapes will become raisins and then exported.

“We are now in the grape harvest season; fortunately, Herat plays an important role in the field of grapes; there are 12,120 hectares under cultivation, and we expect to produce nearly 150,000 tons,” said Hamidullah Naseri, the provincial head of the agriculture and livestock department.

A shortage of cold storage units and the closure of air cargo corridors for the purpose of exporting Herat grapes has forced local farmers to turn their attention to raisins instead. 

“Due to the lack of cold storage facilities and the lack of air corridors and foreign flights, we could not export grapes this year, so more attention is paid to raisins,” said Bashir Ahmad Bahaderi, head of Herat Chamber of Agriculture and Livestock.