If you think the U.S. military isn't serious about this soft power, hearts-and-minds stuff, it's worth considering a recent report by an Army Human Terrain System research team on saffron.

That's right: The U.S. Army commissioned a detailed, heavily footnoted 22-page report on saffron as a potential cash crop for Afghan farmers – and as a potential alternative to growing opium poppy. In a nice touch, the report even includes a recipe for sabzi pilau: a Persian rice dish with saffron, spinach and meat. Delicious!

Devising alternative livelihoods for Afghan farmers involved in the poppy trade is a serious business, and thus far no one has been able to come up with a viable and sustainable alternative. For Afghanistan's impoverished farmers, opium is almost ideal: it is a high-value, low weight crop that requires minimal water; the paste collected during the harvest is easy to store and transport; and the buyers come to directly to you.

Problem is, the illicit opium trade is an important source of financing for the Taliban and other insurgents. But U.S.-funded schemes to wean Afghan farmers off opium have, to borrow a phrase from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, been a heartbreaking failure. And as the HTS report notes, saffron is not likely to replace poppy as an alternative crop in terms of profitability.

"While saffron is significantly more profitable than crops such as wheat, onions, and chick peas, it is still less profitable than poppy," the report states. "According to the figures, poppy is estimated to be more than 50% more profitable than saffron."

It's interesting, nonetheless, to see the military studying aid and development models so closely. Non-governmental organizations such as the Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees have promoted saffron as an alternative crop. The HTS report notes that an Afghan National Army officer recommended that coalition Provincial Reconstruction Teams provide farmers with saffron seeds.

The report also comes as the Army apparently expands the HTS program, despite grumbling from Human Terrain workers in the field. A recent Army news article from Iraq refers to a $40 million expansion of the program – a snippet of news, incidentally, that is buried in a photo caption. It will be interesting to see how the Army manages this: the program recently saw a mass exodus of social scientists, many of whom quit because they were being converted from contractors to government employees.

[PHOTO: BBC.co.uk]

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