Spice of life - Saffron harvest offers jobs, opportunity in Afghanistan

Afghan women collect saffron flowers in the Karukh district of Herat, Afghanistan, November 5, 2016. Picture taken November 5, 2016. REUTERS/Mohammad Shoib

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - It is early morning in a saffron field outside the western Afghan city of Herat and dozens of women are harvesting the delicate purple flowers, working quickly to gather as many as they can before the sun gets too hot.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, selling for as much as $1,200-$1,800 a kilogram, and has long been seen as an alternative crop to opium poppies for poor farmers in a country struggling with the legacy of decades of war and lawlessness.