Strawberry Farming for 500 Afghan Women

With the spring strawberry harvest completed and preparation for the fall harvest underway, GPFA is excited to send this dispatch from the field so you can see firsthand how your project support is being put to work.

Now in the second year of our project, we are proud to report strawberries have proven to be a highly worthwhile investment for our 500 Afghan women farmers!  We are meeting our project goals by moving women up the value chain and getting them involved in sales; both strawberry producers and wholesalers are making sales and earning incomes for their families.  Based on GPFA’s most recent evaluation, this income is projected to grow in subsequent years as yields continue to increase. As one farmer tells us, “I will continue selling strawberries because this fruit has more profit than other fruits and vegetables.”

Since our last report GPFA has followed both producers and wholesalers to monitor the project’s success, all the while providing additional training focused on harvesting, sales, and market connections.  Afghan farmers see strawberries as a low-investment, high-return crop that earns income; the introduction of strawberry as a farm production activity has generated interest in communities where most people had never heard of strawberries before!  This newfound interest has sparked innovative marketing and sales strategies as well.  For instance, one entrepreneurial producer decided to sell her strawberries near a tourist area for picnickers, and as a result earned a premium over the sales price in the local bazaar shops. 

With your continued support GPFA will not only ensure a successful fall harvest for these women farmers, but will be able to scale this project to train even more women strawberry producers, and wholesalers as part of our 2014-2015 cohort. On behalf of all of us at GPFA, thank you for helping us bring new agricultural and small business opportunities to Afghan farmers and their families. We couldn’t do it without you! 

Thank you for your continued support of our project to help Afghan women develop their strawberry enterprises. Harvest season is right around the corner (it begins this month and will last through June) and our farmers have been working throughout the winter to protect their plants and prepare for the second season’s successful harvest.  

A critical part of this project is securing market access for the strawberries. By training strawberry farmers, as well as wholesalers and production advisers, we follow the strawberry harvest to the top of the value chain. During the past few months, we made follow-up visits to our strawberry producers, distributing tool kits, as well as providing training on subjects like weed control, off-season handling, and more. We visited over 30 strawberry farms and provided instruction to farmers on how to cover the plants for survival during winter and other plant protection techniques. We were also pleased to welcome new recruits, orienting new producers who expressed an interest in strawberry farming. This project also encourages wholesalers to start their own agribusinesses.  We worked further with 10 wholesalers this quarter to train them on connecting with strawberry producers in the field and potential buyers in the markets. Our end goal is to maximize the income our producers and wholesalers receive.

We continue to be inspired by the amazing Afghan women we are privileged to work with every day. We recently spoke with one of our strawberry wholesalers, Nooria, who helped her father with his produce business while growing up. Now, at the age of 19, with the support of GPFA, Nooria is running her own wholesale business to connect women strawberry producers to local and national buyers. With GPFA’s assistance, Nooria received technical training in business planning, bookkeeping, harvest handling, marketing, and financial management. We are excited to watch her business take off this season!

We hope you’ll join us in continuing to support more women farmers and small business owners like Nooria. We look forward to sending out another update this summer with highlights from the harvest season.