Jawzjan man invests in farming, creates jobs for 40 youths

SHEBERGHAN (Pajhwok): After completing higher education in China, a young man from northern Jawzjan province has established a business company by investing 500,000 US dollars and has provided employment to 40 other youths.

Mohammad Akbar, 32, went to China four years ago to continue his education and there he received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Akbar returned to the country and invested in the agriculture sector by establishing Aqtash Commercial and Agricultural Company to cultivate lucrative crops on 200 acres of land in different parts of Maimana City.

Cultivating cotton, asafetida and onion on the 200 acres of land, Akbar has employed 40 youth and pays them different wages from 5,000 afs to 12,500afs

Mohammad Akbar told Pajhwok Afghan News: “My goal by investing in the agriculture sector is to support unemployed youth and create a work environment for them.”

He said some of the workers introduced to him by officials of the Islamic Emirate were young people who were addicted to drugs in the past and had now given up addiction, recovered and were working in his farms.

Akbar asked national businessmen who are abroad to return to their homeland and invest in order to help overcome unemployment.

Happy with their job, the workers with Akbar also urged Afghan businesspeople to return to the country and invest.

Noorullah, one of the young men who is working in Aqtash farms, welcomed Akbar’s initiative, said: “I was jobless and turned to drugs, but currently I’m working in this farm after recovering from addiction.”

Terming addiction bad and destructive, he asked other addicts: “Stop using drugs and to live a healthy life.”

Noorullah said he was attracted to work after getting rid of addiction and now he was happy to be a good person for himself and his family.

He asked businessmen and investors to return to the country and invest in different sectors in the province.

The provincial Department of Commerce and Investment says is planning to establish industrial park in cooperation with businessmen in the next few months.

Maulvi Niaz Mohammad Tawab, the department head, praised Akbar for providing work to a group of 40 youths by cultivating cotton, asafetida and onion.

He added: “We want businessmen and capitalists who have the ability to invest in different sectors to invest in Jawzjan province, because there is enough labor here|.”

Tawab also asked businessmen who have gone abroad to return to the country and provide jobs to the youth by investing in various sectors.

sa/ma