Empowering Rural Women in Afghanistan Rural Change In the rugged, semi-desert environment of north and west Afghanistan,

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Empowering Rural Women in Afghanistan Rural Change In therugged, semi-desert environment of north and west Afghanistan, itis common to see fields upon fields of poppies. The red flowers aregrown by many to illegally produce opium, which is then processedand sold on the international black market. Historically, opiumproduction has been extremely successful for farmers in ruralAfghanistan, although it is frequently cultivated under thepressure of local Taliban forces. Now there is change underway.Since 2006, international organizations such as USAID, the WorldBank and DACAAR (Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees) havebeen providing assistance to rural Afghans, mostly located in theHerat province, helping them convert their poppy farms to fields ofpurple crocus flowers, from which the world’s most expensive spice,saffron, is produced. Saffron is the red stigma found inside acrocus flower and sells for ten times the value of opium. Whenadded to food, saffron has a distinctive earthy smell and flavour.Each flower produces only three stigmas, which must be hand-pickedduring the short annual flowering season. It takes approximately150 flowers to yield one gram of saffron threads. High qualitysaffron sells for between USD 2,000 and USD 4,000 per kilogram inglobal markets. In 2015, 18 companies were selling and exportingAfghanistan’s saffron from the Herat province and, overall, 60 to80 percent of the approximately three tons of saffron produced inHerat is exported. In spite of this, 95 percent of the globalmarket share is held by Iranian saffron. International AssistanceIn recent years, several aid organizations have begun focusingtheir efforts on women in rural areas of Afghanistan.Traditionally, rural women do not attend school, are often limitedin movement outside the home and are unable to gain employment toearn money for their families. With the assistance provided in theform of training, loans and expertise, the contributingorganizations have empowered groups of women to form growers’associations and cultivate, process and sell saffron locally—and,more recently, internationally. What began in 2011 withapproximately 117 employed had grown to more than 800 femalesaffron growers by 2015. Feasibility of International Trade 2 ©FITT One particular group, the Saffron Growers’ Association ofAfghanistan (SGAA), has experienced a great deal of success inlocal markets and has begun exporting their locally producedsaffron to two suppliers in India, an attainable goal due toIndia’s reduced import standards of food quality and packaging. TheSGAA employees are professional and courteous, and the leader ofthe association is a strong-spoken woman with some businessbackground who operates SGAA according to a solid business plan,created through the training provided by USAID. The SGAA saffron isof high quality by Afghanistan standards, but doesn’t quite meetinternational market standards. A second challenge to the group’ssuccess, and by far the biggest obstacle, is the intrinsic beliefin the country that women should grow and dry saffron, and menshould sell it. Opportunity to Grow One non-governmentalorganization, the Scottish Association to Eradicate Poverty(SATEP), has been monitoring the story closely and is looking foran opportunity to make a difference. SATEP is a humanitariandevelopment organization that has been working to decrease povertyaround the world since 1994. Its global expertise and U.K. locationmake it well positioned to provide assistance to SGAA, who appearspoised to expand even further and begin exporting saffron to othertypes of markets. SATEP knows this is possible and is confident itcan assist. Now it needs to determine whether SGAA is ready toraise its exporting activity to the next level. Premium markets,such as the U.S., the U.K. and Japan, will pay top dollar forhigh-quality saffron. SATEP has conducted a target market analysisand determined the U.K. is an optimal market for this project.There, saffron sells for between GBP 2.00 (Waitrose, Sainsbury’s)and GBP 10.80 (Norfolk Saffron) for 0.4 grams, depending on qualityand availability, and the market is not yet saturated. To reachglobal markets such as the U.K., SGAA will require assistanceopening new channels of export. It is lacking in internationalconnections and the tools to forge new partnerships in othercountries, such as daily access to the internet and mobile phones.These are areas where SATEP will be able to assist. The U.K. marketdiffers from its Indian counterpart on several areas related toimport regulations, as well as on generally accepted marketstandards. Products entering the market must meet a high standardof quality and are subjected to rigorous controls. Food andbeverages entering the U.K. are required to meet specificsanitation and hygiene criteria, beginning with the method ofharvesting the product, through to the drying process, packagingand shipping to the target country. Agricultural products must beharvested according to strict environmental and safety standardsset by the European Commission. Further standards on labelling areenforced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.In addition to U.K. import regulations, there are other factors anorganization such as SGAA will need to examine should they wish toexport at a comfortable profit. Packaging, for instance, isextremely important. Packages should have a modern design and beeconomical, environmentally friendly and consistent from oneshipment to the next. Imitation saffron is a major concern intoday’s markets, due to recent large-scale scandals involvingimitation saffron from Spain being sold to importers as the genuineproduct. Some guarantee of authenticity will be required, such asan irreproducible watermark or symbol on the packaging. Feasibilityof International Trade 3 © FITT Fair trade is also a growing marketconsideration, particularly in socially conscious markets such asthe U.K. Some thought and planning should go into how the growers’association could take advantage of this growing trend. Theopportunity presented by SATEP could be highly beneficial to bothparties. SGAA will benefit from training, expertise, increasedcredit availability and access to global export channels. SATEPwill realize its goal of growing the female-produced Afghan saffronmarket in order to provide greater employment rates and higherstandards of living for Afghan families. Learning Outcomes Thiscase study relates to the following learning outcomes from thethree modules in the course Feasibility of International Trade: Assess the readiness of the organization to undertake the potentialnew international trade initiative or expansion.  Design aresearch plan and conduct the designated research.  Conduct exportcost and pricing analysis of products in order to evaluatefinancial viability.  Analyze the health, safety and securityrisks to personnel of an organization working in a foreign country. Analyze existing and shifting political circumstances of acountry related to the stability of the government and howinternational business is conducted in that country in order toprioritize target markets.  Develop, implement and monitor riskmanagement strategies based on the shifting political circumstancesof a country related to the stability of the government and howinternational business is conducted.
Case Study Question
Question) There are several risks present in this case. Identifytwo potential risks and suggest mitigation strategies for each.