By Kate McLetchie | Executive Director
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.
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