Asafetida cultivation

Written by: Mir Aqa Etibar

Asafetida is a plant‏ used as a flavoring, food preservative, and fragrance. It is used as a folk remedy for a wide variety of purposes‏ and could be cultivated in any kind of land without salinity land.

This plant was found naturally in a mountainous area of Afghanistan but now some peasant cultivate it their land and they get good results of it.

AEPO's writer/producer has talked to some farmers about the cultivation of asafetida.

A peasant, Haji Sardar says, "Once I went to Tala-Barfac district, Baghlan province. I found asafetida in the mountain of the mentioned district. I cut some plants of it and cultivated in my land but after a few days, those plant dried and did not understand the cause of them."

Haji Ashoor, a resident of Jajimaidan district, Paktia province says, "Asafetida is a mountain plant and could not plant in the land. If it is possible to plant it the land, I would plant it my land."

How to peasants cultivate asafetida?

Oriakhail, a resident of Paghman district, Kabul province talks about the cultivation of this plant, "I bought the seeds of asafetida from Balkh province and cultivated in my land in Paghman district. First I plowed my land and then I cultivated the seeds of asafetida in rows. This plant does need more water and I water the field once every 20 days.

Asafetida yields after 3 years and it yields almost 25 years.

Asafetida yields underground like potatoes. This plant yields at the beginning of the autumn and peasants cut the root of the plant with a sharp knife or razor and syrup comes out of the cut place. The next day they collect the syrup. And they sell it in the market for a good price."

Qambar Ali, another peasant says, "After 3 years of cultivation, I get 30-40 mg asafetida from each plant and I could get up to 70 kilograms asafetida and I sell each kilogram asafetida for 55 thousand Afghanis in the market."