UN-supported agricultural cooperatives help change lives of women in Afghan province

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3 Dec 2013

UN-supported agricultural cooperatives help change lives of women in Afghan province

BADAKHSHAN - United Nations-supported local agricultural projects that encourage women to engage in collective farming are changing the lives of hundreds of women in the north-eastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, according to UN and government officials as well as beneficiaries.

“We established a garden – it belongs to 46 women who are members of a cooperative. We harvested good vegetable products for our families and the neighbours this year,” said Ms. Shaima, a member of a women’s cooperative in Badakhshan’s Shuhada district.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) helped set up the cooperative which now runs kitchen gardens and nursery projects. As part of the cooperative scheme, the women involved in these first received training on how to operate them by the FAO-established Women’s Development Centre (WDC).

“Before receiving the training in WDC, I was not familiar with professional tree plantation and vegetable cultivation, and usually my farms were affected by natural disasters,” said Ms. Shaima, one of some 750 women who have taken part in the FAO-supported projects, which are based in the provincial capital, Faizabad, as well as Shuhada and Argu districts.

Besides kitchen gardens and nursery projects, the cooperative scheme also includes training in beekeeping and establishing apiaries - which, according to an FAO official responsible for implementing the local projects, Nazifa Natiq, have been “very successful,” with demand for the honey produced by the local women soaring.

“Based on our experience, women working in a group for beekeeping yields better results than working individually,” said Ms. Natiq. “Therefore we have planned to start a second group for the beekeeping project soon.”

A local government official in charge of cooperatives in Badakhshan, Nasir Ahmad Ahmadi, said there are now 18 women’s cooperatives in the province, with each of these supported by various international organizations, including FAO.

According to the Badakhshan Department of Agriculture, some 1,500 women are involved in agricultural and small business activities in 28 of the province’s districts.

“Since the women are successful in their career and their products are of good quality, the government departments (of agriculture, irrigation and livestock) will establish markets in different parts of the province for the better sale of their yields,” said Mr. Ahmadi.

The cooperative schemes’ produce has already left a positive impression on some local residents.

Members of a women's cooperative in north-eastern Afghan province of Badakhshan involved in beekeeping. Photo: UNAMA

“It [the honey] has a sweet taste and is of good quality – but requires more public awareness so that it is marketed better,” said Mr. Qudratullah, a local resident of the provincial capital, Faizabad. He added that the price of the women’s cooperative-produced honey is the same as that of honey purchased elsewhere in the city.