Aloe Vera

 

  Written by: Aqsa Sediqi

Aloe Vera is a succulent plant, grows wild in tropical climates around the world but it is cultivated for agricultural and medicinal uses in other parts of the world. It is found in many consumer products including beverages, skin lotion, cosmetics, or ointments. Aloe Vera is a stemless or very short-stemmed plant growing to 60–100 cm tall.

In recent years, some Afghans also cultivate this plant.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to Muhammad Naim Omar, a resident of Herat province who has established Aloe Vera products company.

Naim Omar says: “the Aloe Vera cultivation is new in Afghanistan. We imported this plant from Mexico with the help of ministry of agriculture of Afghanistan. About 1570 kinds of products could be produced from Aloe Vera, including 100 kinds of medicines.

We have made greenhouses in 67 thousand square meters land and could get benefits from it for ten years. Each Aloe Vera bulb produces 15 new plants.

We have three kinds of plans for Aloe Vera plant: in the first, we sell the Aloe Vera plant to farmers and if any plant dries, we replace it with a new one. The second plan is to be a shareholding and the price could be reduced 25%, and the last plan is to sell each plant on farmers at 72 Afghanis and then we would purchase the leaves of Aloe Vera from the farmers. The cultivation of one Jerib land needs 470 thousand Afghanis expenses and in the second year, one could get 7-8 hundred thousand Afghanis from the same land.

The Aloe Vera gel is produced by the machine and could be used in medicines but we want to use it in energy drinks and fruits juice in Herat province, and it is also using in beauty parlors and herbal medicines too.

Painting on Clothes:

Farial Shirzai Charkhi, a resident of Kabul city says: “I was interested in painting since childhood but my mother gave me the idea of painting on clothes. When I painted flowers on a cloth, my mother appreciated it, then I created a page on social media and shared the samples of my painting on clothes.

Later I opened a workshop of painting on clothes and shawls with the help of one of my friends. I use a special acrylic paints and glue for painting which could not be removed after washing. I teach painting to 12 girls and they pay me 700 Afghanis fees monthly. Our monthly incomes reach 15 thousand Afghanis.”