Safe Warehouse, Safe Goods

 Written by: Hasamuddin Hamdard

There are no standard stores in Afghanistan for keeping foodstuffs and this issue causes some businessmen a big loss.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to Noor Muhammad, a resident of Kabul city.

Noor Muhammad talks about his business, “I bought 26 hundred thousand Afghanis peas about 5 years back. I rented a warehouse and I was paying 2000 Afghanis monthly rent for it and I stored the mentioned peas. After passing sometimes, I saw that some insects had spoiled peas and I had to sell them to the cattle owners for 13 hundred thousand Afghanis and I faced 13 hundred thousand Afghanis loss.”

 Some other wholesalers find a solution to this issue.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to a foodstuff wholesaler, Alhaj Muhammadajan Tarakhil in Bagh-e-Qazi area, Kabul city.

Muhammadajan talks about his business, “I have been working for 42 years as foodstuffs wholesaler. Once mice ate sacks and made hole in them. The other time, moisture spoiled some wheat. In order to prevent mice in the store, I put some traps and I also mixed arsenic with some wheat and put them to the mice. To solve the problem of moisture, I concreted the walls and floor of the store and now there is no mouse and nor moisture.

If the store is not concreted, we should put some wooden boards under wheat sacks to prevent them from the moisture.”

Women and business:

AEPO’s writer/producer had a trip to Bamiyan province and there she has talked to Zahra Nazari who is busy in work with Gawharshad Handicrafts Association.

Zahra talks about her business, “When I returned from Iran, it was hard for women to work outside home. I opened a shop and I hired 45 other women for working with me and we started handcrafts and embroideries. In the past five years, about 25 women have opened independent association of selling handicrafts and they became the breadwinners of their families and we have also provided the opportunity of business for thousands of other women.

We have some working groups in Bamiyan province and 42 women are busy in different parts of this province. We have started our activities about 10 years ago.

We sew old Afghani coins on hats and shirts too and most foreign tourists purchase these items while visiting from our association. We get 300 hundred Afghanis to benefit from each hat. We also prepare carpets and rugs and we get 5000-7000 Afghanis to benefit from each piece of rug and carpet.”