10/2006 - Nearly an hour later, our four-wheel drive led us up a winding road riddled with divots as our bodies bounced in rapid motions. Quietly, I prayed that our tires would not bump upon an anti-tank landmine, as the rains often wash away the soil in remote areas leaving the density of pressure to detonate these hidden killers of landmines that lay dormant for decades. Nearly 30 years of war in Afghanistan has washed winter snows carrying virtual landmines flowing downstream and left to dry in the clay baked summer sun. Nomads emerged from their tents and herded sheep along narrow paths marked by hundreds of “red and white” painted rocks indicating forbidden ranges in the mine-ridden red zone. The loss of an animal that strays into a minefield may cause an entire family to starve, so the Afghan sheep-herder has to be aware of his surroundings at all times.

As the sun began to rise amidst Koh Baba mountain range, the grapevines were illuminated in golden light. The harvest of hope was realized, as grateful Afghan farmers greeted us in the village of Shakeradara, which translates into the “Sugar Valley”.… Sweet Afghan grapes from the “Sugar Valley!”

Roots of Peace determined that farmers growing the small Kishmishi variety of grape can quadruple their income (from $585/ha to $3,285/ha net revenue) by producing their grapes on trellises and adopting other improved cultural practices. This increase in income is even more dramatic if farmers adopt other practices, such as converting a portion of their crop to green rather than brown raisins or by grafting Taifee or Monukka varieties into their existing Kishmishi vines and selling the resulting fruit as fresh grapes rather than as raisins.