The story of Afghani almonds from ZiBA Foods in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Sourcing natural ingredients for food manufacturing, is today as much about assessing the quality and flavour, as it is about making responsible purchasing decisions. In years gone by, the only way to understand what was happening on a plantation overseas, or in a factory, was to visit these places – sometimes prohibitively expensive or even dangerous to do.
In late 2016, we were approached by the friendly team behind ZiBA Foods to create a batch of chocolate bars made with their heirloom almonds from Afghanistan, to help promote the work they are doing in Afghanistan with almonds, pistachios, figs, walnuts, mulberries and apricot kernals. This pocket of the world was historically renown for farming and for a variety of less than happy reasons, the economy, export and life of farmers has been made extremely difficult.
Made from cocoa bean to chocolate bar, Mirzam specialises in making high quality chocolate bars under our own brand, however from time to time work on white label, or private label projects like this one with ZiBA foods.
Read more about the mission of ZiBA foods, from our interview with them here:
So what are ZiBA foods up to?
Ziba Foods is a privately-funded business founded in 2015 by a small, passionate team of Afghans and Americans with over 50 years of combined experience in food production, logistics, distribution and international trade. We share a passion for “frontier” markets in general and Afghanistan in particular, and a desire to see Afghan dried fruit and nuts on store shelves, in restaurants and in specialty food product offerings around the world.
Our two main objectives at this time are as follows:
We want to show the world that the dried fruit & nuts grown in Afghanistan are world-class – these are rare and extremely high-quality products, an agricultural throwback to a time when things were truly grown naturally. In this sense Afghanistan’s lack of development into a “modern” economy may actually have protected some of its agricultural treasures. Afghan almonds are what almonds used to be, a century ago, before California hybridized them into perfect-looking but virtually tasteless nuts (a similar fate to which the American tomato has befallen).
We want to create a tangible, positive impact for the women we employ and for the farmers from whom we buy our raw materials. Our workforce is 100% Afghan, and 90% female, and we employ women not only in the factory but in management. As we grow, we will continue to employ women wherever possible.
What is the current status of ‘life in general’ in Afghanistan, is this a difficult project to ‘make happen’?
We get this question all the time, and for good reason – obviously, Afghanistan continues to face serious challenges in terms of economic and political stability and general security. Support from the United States and other allies is uncertain, and lack of certainty is, as always, a driver of continued instability.
A vicious cycle. Having said that, we got involved in Afghanistan in part because we believe these challenges present an opportunity – we are the only exporter of Afghan dried fruit and nuts who has successfully penetrated markets such as the United States and Japan. We have established a prime mover advantage.
In general, it is a difficult project to “make happen”…but perhaps in different ways than you might imagine (and certainly in different ways than we had anticipated.) We have been very fortunate in many ways to have a fairly reliable supply chain within Afghanistan; our operation there from farm to factory is running very smoothly, as is the processing operation itself. We also have good connections with freight forwarders and shipping companies who can reliably (if slowly and expensively) get product to the destinations to which we ship. Our main challenges are both related indirectly to the security situation; first, it is a constant challenge to maintain our strategy of doing 100% of the processing inside Afghanistan, mainly because equipment is very difficult to source, import, test & commission, and maintain.
Nevertheless, we have no intention of moving value addition to another place – we are committed to remain 100% Afghan. Second, it is sometimes a challenge to “get all the way to the farm” due to poor security in many outlying areas where the best products are grown (e.g. Figs in Kandahar, Mulberries in Badakhshan, etc.). We have never failed to get the products that we need, but the dream of sending a team of inspectors to certify the farms we buy from as “organic” has thus far been unattainable. There is some irony in this – the farms we buy from are often so remote and small-scale that they embody the spirit of “organic” far better than many “organic” commercial farms in more developed markets.
What is the result of involving the local women in production?
Employing Afghan women serves a social purpose, but in fact it is simply good business; unemployment in Afghanistan is very high, and as such there is an abundant supply of trainable, hardworking women who are eager to make above-market wages with Team Ziba in a working environment which aligns with the strong core values that the owners of the company believe in and mandate. We have interviewed the team recently to learn more about how working with Ziba has affected their lives, and we are pleased with the feedback.
All of our processing factory employees are women, but we also have a very capable young woman who is our Plant Manager and who sits on the Leadership Team – in this position she manages the office petty cash, leads regular tax payment preparations, and looks after the entire operation during our General Manager’s frequent travels. She also wears several other hats – as a startup we need all hands on deck!
What sorts of things grow in Afghanistan, and what is the quality and taste like?
The reason I got involved with this business is because I was shocked at the amazing quality and variety of Afghan agriproducts – it seems that everything grows there, and it’s all better quality than what I knew existed anywhere, let alone in Afghanistan. Our nutritional testing of Afghan vs. California almonds shows consistently higher levels of protein, oil and carbohydrates in Afghan varieties.
In focus groups we often hear comments like “I wouldn’t even know these were almonds by looking at them, but the flavor is fantastic”. Afghanistan has one of the world’s best water resources (who knew?), and agricultural potential is tremendous – the challenge (because of the security situation and macroeconomic instability) has always been about getting the products processed in a professional way and delivered to global markets – doing just this forms the core of our business plan.
Tell me about the wrapper artwork?
The artwork is intended to evoke the spirit of the Hindu Kush mountain range in Northern Afghanistan, where white mulberries, walnuts and other fruit & nuts grow wild. It is also meant to cast Afghanistan in a different light than that conveyed by the news media these days; it is a land of hidden promise and opportunity, in which wonderful things can be found. FNdesigns beautifully captured this for us.
I want Ziba Foods. How can i get them?
I highly recommend trying our roasted & salted Apricot kernels along with a handful of dried white Hindu Kush Mulberries – sweet & salty superfoods!
Right now we have organized distribution in the United States, Japan and India, and we can get products to the UAE quite easily as we have a Free Zone company already established. The best way to get ahold of some samples, or to place an order, is to email info@zibafoods.com, or message us on Instagram @zibafoods or on Facebook at /zibafoods. We’ll take care of the rest!
Finally – we are in the midst of a significant rebranding effort to coincide with a formal launch of our retail packaging in mid-2018, around the time we will be attending the Summer Fancy Food show in New York City. Stay tuned on social media for updates!