This has nothing to do with Afghan scientists.

Wine producers, coffee, tea and cheese producers have such a term - terroir - a set of soil and climate factors and special characteristics of the area (relief, rose of winds, the presence of reservoirs, forest masses, insulation, the surrounding animal and plant world), determining the variety characteristics of agricultural products.

Now imagine Afghanistan. There, peasants plant linen, oats, wheat, barley, potatoes, carrots, and hemp and maca grow anyway. The Terroir!