Women among hundreds get work opportunity in Helmand

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Hundreds of people including women have been provided with work opportunities in southern Helmand province by the agriculture department and the World Food Program (WFP), officials say.

Zalmai Alko, Helmand agriculture director, told a meeting in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, on Tuesday that a large area of farmland in Bolan and Anar Bagh areas of Lashkargah belonged to the agriculture department and it needed to be cultivated.

“We have created work for hundreds of people for rehabilitation of this land,” he said.

He added that the WFP distributed 100 kilograms of flour, 12 kilograms of pulse, nine kilograms of ghee and a kilogram of salt to these workers each month.

Under this program, 40 women who have no male caretaker, are provided with mushroom seeds along with growing equipment so the women are able to grow the plant in their own houses and improve their economy, he said.

‘We have created work opportunities for a total of 454 people including 40 women, this program would continue which would help these workers to improve their economy,” Alko added.

Besides Lashkargah, the program is being extended to a number of districts of the province, he said.

Samiullah, a resident of Greshk district, said he was jobless and disappointed but the program helped him a lot.

He said if the program was extended to other areas of the province, it would attract more people and youths would no longer get engaged in insurgency and other destructive activities.

Helmand is one of unstable provinces of the country where Taliban and Afghan forces often engage in intense clashes over the last few months.

Mds/ma

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