Afghanistan's air cargo corridor to China, launched earlier this week, will enable the landlocked South Asian country to export pine nuts worth 800 million US dollars annually, CGTN Digital learned from an Afghan government official. Farmers in rural parts of the war-torn country are pinning their hopes on this major new development on how their dry fruits can access this important international market and improve their lives.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani inaugurated the China-Afghanistan air corridor on Tuesday with an aircraft carrying 20 tons of pine nuts worth about 500,000 US dollars from Afghanistan's capital Kabul to Shanghai, timed to coincide with the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in the city from November 5-10.

Describing the air corridor as a landmark in strengthening bilateral relations between China and Afghanistan, Ghani stated that Aqrab 15 in Afghan calendar, which falls on November 6, would be marked as National Pine Nuts Day henceforth, according to a statement from the president's office.

"Twenty tons of pine-nuts will be exported to China per day until the end of the season this year," said Shokrullah Amiri, an official from Afghan President's Administrative Office, adding that "Afghanistan's total pine nuts output is 23,000 metric tons a year, and China is the major importer of the product."

As many as 50 Afghan companies have partnered with Chinese firms to export pine nuts for the next three months, Reuters news agency quoted Naseem Malekzai, chairman of the Afghanistan-China Business Council in Kabul, as saying. "It's our first air cargo consignment to Shanghai, but soon we will be sending Afghan products to Beijing and Quanzhou,” he added. 

Improving market access

Afghanistan's economy is heavily reliant on import and is increasingly turning to overseas markets to offset its trade deficit. Imports from China in 2017 stood at 1.09 billion US dollars.

The country also participated at the CIIE, exhibiting a range of products including carpets, saffron, handicrafts, fresh and dry fruits, and precious and semi-precious stones.

Officials hoped that improved bilateral trade and connectivity with China at a time when CIIE showcased Beijing's keenness in increasing imports to meet rising domestic consumption will boost prospects for Afghanistan's exports.

Describing China as a lucrative market for Afghan products, the country's Commerce Ministry Spokesperson Musafer Qoqandi told Xinhua news agency that besides exporting saffron, carpets and pine nuts, Kabul is inching closer to a deal to export millions of cubic meters of marble to China annually.

Afghanistan has initiated a spate of air cargo corridors this year. The China-Afghanistan link "is the 11th air cargo corridor launched to Asian and European countries," Amiri informed.

Since early this year, Afghanistan has launched two air corridors to India and one each to Turkey, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia, he said.

In September, Afghanistan had inaugurated air cargo corridors with Europe, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The inauguration was marked by a ceremony at Kabul Airport that was attended by ministers and foreign diplomats, Amiri added.

"The first flight of Kabul-Europe air cargo had been initiated through Turkish Airline carrying 20 tons of goods - eight tons of goods to Italy and 12 tons of wool to Finland," the Afghan official elaborated.

At the launch of the inaugural flight to China, Ghani asserted that his government is committed to bring out its full potential via trade corridors, which are aimed at improving market access for Afghanistan's agricultural and traditional products.

The Afghan president added that farmers are determined to protect pine nut trees and work to increase their productivity. "Our aim is to change Afghanistan to an exporter country. Pine nuts will be exported to China and to other markets,” Ghani said, describing pine nuts, pistachio and cumin as hidden treasures of Afghanistan. 

Pining for opportunity

Pine nuts, known locally as jalghoza, have traditionally been a lucrative source of income for many Afghan farmers and villagers in the eastern region of the country where the dry fruit trees are found in abundance.

Pine nuts trees grow naturally in Afghanistan's eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, Kunar, Paktia, Khost and Paktika. Considered as natural treasures, villagers have traditionally shielded the trees.

Afghan pine nut is an expensive dry fruit, and remains extremely popular in Pakistan, India and other South Asian countries.

In Afghanistan's local markets, a kilogram of pine nuts is sold for about 2,000 afghani (29.41 US dollars) – way beyond the purchasing capacity of most people in Afghanistan, which is still recovering from decades of conflict and violence.

Local traders opine that the price could further double, or even triple, with Afghan pine nuts getting a steady export market in China and other countries. This would, in effect, also increase the earning potential of pine nut farmers.

The Afghan president said local unions will be set up to pave the ground for loans in provinces.

Afghan trader Rasoul Khan reckoned that fresh investment in the sector can result in an increase in productivity. "We can increase our output if the government helps us to change the way of processing from traditional hand collecting to machine collecting and to modernize our packing system," Khan told China's Xinhua news agency.

Hamisha Gul, a 35-year-old female resident of Afghanistan's Kanda Chashma village, expressed hope that "modernizing processing and packing of pine nuts would provide more job opportunities for people."

With the China-Afghanistan air cargo corridor in place, Afghan farmers and traders are hoping to see their dreams become reality.

(Cover: An Afghan pine nut farmer. //Photo via the Office of the President of Afghanistan)