Empowering Afghan Women: Slow Food Community in Kohrokh District in Afghanistan Offers Training in Food Production

During this past year, The Women’s Empowerment Project, an initiative by the Slow Food Community Kohrokh Supporting Local Beans Producers, successfully empowered and educated women in local food production. The project, conducted over three months in 2023 and 2024, invited twenty women to fifteen days of capacity building in food production and processing, using local ingredients such as milk, flour, eggs, and vegetables. 

The project was funded by The Cultures of Resistance Foundation and was a joint effort between the Slow Community in Kohrokh, Slow Food International, and SACHO (Support Afghan in Crisis Humanitarian Organization), which provided coordination with the economic department in the Herat Province in Afghanistan. Mohammad Nader Maliki was the on-site coordinator.  

Fifteen Days of Training in Food Production

Twenty women participated in fifteen days of theoretical and practical training taught by Shafiqa Mohammady. The training included everything from hygienic standards in food preparation and safeguarding local foods to processing milk and preparing jams, sweets, cakes, and tomato paste out of local ingredients offered by Slow Food community members. Some of the project funding was used to acquire materials needed for the practical training, such as a gas oven, caldrons, pots, cake molds, and scales.

Since the main objective of the Slow Food community in Kohrokh is to support local bean producers, the cultivation and processing of beans and their nutritional value were also explored during the training.

Products From the Project on the Local Market

Upon completing the training, the project team outlined the possible market for the project’s products and those of the Slow Food community. The efforts in mapping the local market were fruitful, with over 700 kilos of project-produced sweets sold during the first sales round. Several supermarkets were also interested in selling pickles and jams produced during the capacity building. The demand for the products was too high to accommodate, leading to plans to increase the production capacity. 

However, as with all projects, there were also obstacles. One challenge was the restrictions in Afghanistan on women and women’s use of social media. Another setback was the high shipment cost for the products. 

Even though the project‘s initial funding period is over, the activities are ongoing. Fifteen more women have joined the project and participated in capacity building. The participants continuously produce sweets and other food products and gain support from the Slow Food community and their families. Weekly, around 180–200 kilos of cakes and candies are produced and distributed to the Bazaar. The project could even offer a job opportunity for someone to help with shipment from the production facilities to the market.

A Continuous Focus on Food Education

The Slow Food Community in Kohrokh has numerous plans for the future, including sharing Slow Food goals regionally, and nationally through communication material and campaigns. The newly set up Facebook account, Slow Food in Afghanistan, will report on current Slow Food efforts and initiatives.

The activities started within the Women’s Empowerment Project will continue. The aim is to offer capacity building for even more women in the area, leading to income for the participants. The community is also considering participating in local and national food-related exhibitions with products from the project, hoping to extend the market for locally made products to other parts of the region and the country.

As the community name suggests, the primary focus of the activities is on education regarding cultivating, harvesting, and processing beans and on providing technical services for community members cultivating beans. More members and producers are always welcome so the community can increase the market for locally grown beans and other food products.

Who: The Slow Food Community Kohrokh Supporting Local Beans Producers

What: The Women’s Empowerment Project offers capacity building for women in vegetable cultivation and harvesting and production of sweets, jams, pickles, and tomato paste. The products are sold on the local market, generating income for the project’s beneficiaries. Slow Food International coordinated the project with several stakeholders and funding from The Cultures of Resistance Foundation.

Slow Food Communities in Afghanistan: 

• Herat Abjosh Raisins
• Kohrokh Supporting Local Beans Producers
• Preservation of the Shah Wali Kot Dried Yellow Fig
• Pashtun Zarghon Local Peach Supporters
• Supporting Herat Saffron
• Women Supporter of Soya Bean Cultivation and Promotion in Balkh Province 

A Slow Food community is a local group of people who share Slow Food values and unite around a specific objective, such as protecting and promoting a particular local food.