6 JUNE 2010 | BEHSUD DISTRICT, NANGARHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

 

With limited job opportunities and high poverty in remote areas of Afghanistan, local people consider joining the insurgency.  Addressing this issue in Behsud District of Nangarhar Province, USAID’s Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East, and West (IDEA-NEW) program supported establishing a textile processing facility to generate local level employment and strengthen the textile value chain.

 

An Afghan trader invested in the main machinery for the textile processing facility and IDEA-NEW supported the startup and installation.  The facility offers free washing, pressing, dyeing, and labeling services to more than 200 small and medium-sized textile-weaving enterprises in Rodaat, Batikot, Kama, and Dare Noor districts of Nangarhar.

 

Prior to establishing this facility, most of the weavers sold unprocessed products at lower prices, while some took their products to Pakistan for processing.  With the emergence of the textile processing facility, textile weavers can increase their production capacities, launch new varieties of products, and compete with imported varieties on the market.

 

“I send my textiles every week to the new processing facility, which, after pressing and dyeing, turns them to much higher quality products – something really incredible.  It has now been a month that we’re receiving this service, which has almost doubled the price of our products in the market,” said Khyber Gul, owner of a home-based textile weaving facility in Rodaat District.

 

In addition to creating permanent jobs for 11 local employees, the facility indirectly benefits hundreds of weaver families, also supported by IDEA-NEW.  During the next two years, the IDEA-NEW project will continue to link the facility with weavers and support the entire textile value chain, providing locally produced textiles to replace imports.