Strawberry Farming for 500 Afghan Women

Thanks to your steadfast support, we have seen the income-boosting effects that the strawberry crop has had for our 500 strawberry producers and 10 wholesalers. With a successful summer harvest behind us, we have worked with our strawberry farmers to further sharpen their skills with training, and examined their harvest results with a comprehensive income survey (results currently being compiled).

Aside from generating an increased cash revenue for our strawberry farmers, the project has enabled women to corner a previously unexplored section of the agricultural market in Afghanistan. Because strawberries are a new crop, wholesalers and producers alike were able to move into a space typically dominated by men for other crops. Women wholesalers were able to make successful sales at local shops owned and operated by men. The project established women as the primary wholesalers and traders of strawberries in the three provinces where the project has operated. Networks are immensely vital to the economic success of women entrepreneurs and to this end this project has connected women producers and wholesalers to shops and retailers, creating relationships that will lead to a steady revenue stream for many years to come.

We have now completed the second year of this strawberry project and it has been an extremely rewarding and meaningful process for our women farmers and small business owners -- one which we could not have accomplished without your generous support. Thank you so very much!