The photo shows an Afghan man works at a tomato paste plant established by Nazifa Habibzai Ahmadi in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, Jan. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Sayed Mominzadah)
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- "It has long been my dream to achieve economic sufficiency for myself and create job opportunities for fellow women and nowadays I am feeling proud that my dream is being gradually materialized," whispered Nazifa Habibzai Ahmadi.
Living in Ghazni city, the capital of eastern Afghanistan's Ghazni province where the anti-government militants have been fighting over the past decade and attempting to overrun the beleaguered provincial capital, the 45-year-old Ahmadi is the first businessperson that has dared to invest there.
Taking a round in her small factory and inspecting her employees, the woman said that she didn't believe in the beginning to get support from locals in initiating and running the small income generating project.
"I started my work with a small money in mid last year and used to produce 20 kg tomato paste daily in early days of my factory but presently the factory 200 to 250 kg per day," Ahmadi told Xinhua with pride.
Despite that the products are bottled in a simple way, they are well received by locals, who prefer to buy locally produced tomato paste instead of imported one, she explained.
Ahmadi used to buy tomato from farmers, thinking that buying local products from one hand would encourage the farmers to boost their farming capacity and from the other, it would bring down the prices of vegetables including tomato.
Delighted over her income, she expressed hope to increase the factory's producing capability to produce 300 kg paste daily next year.
Currently, a total of 10 ladies and gents are working in Ahmadi's simple factory. The plant's marketing personnel are visiting neighbor provinces including Kandahar and Kabul for clients.
The determined Ahmadi predicted to compete the foreign-made tomato pastes in future to capture local markets.
"We should create opportunities for ourselves and to take steps towards achieving economic self-sufficiency," said Ahmadi, amid increasing militancy that has forced hundreds of businesspersons to shift their businesses abroad.
Ghazni has been regarded as a troubled province where anti-government militants especially the Taliban outfit is active and controls parts of the province over the past decade.
The armed group also briefly captured the provincial capital, the Ghazni city, in August last year and had vandalized administrative departments and business centers besides inflicting casualties on locals.
Taliban militants are still posing threats to Ghazni city and according to locals, the armed outfit occasionally targeted the beleaguered city with mortars and rockets to terrorize the people.
Poverty and unemployment, according to Ahmadi, are helping militant groups recruit.
Ghazni residents said the majority of foot soldiers of militant groups are jobless youngsters and mostly illiterates who have no or little income to support family.
Appreciating the initiative taken by Ahmadi, a worker inside the factory lamented that dozens of businessmen have fled Ghazni city due to continued security incidents.
"I am satisfied with the income earning here in the factory," he muttered, saying that even taking maximum benefit from minimum opportunities takes society towards stability.
"My living condition has been gradually improved since joining the factory couple of months ago and I am satisfied with the livelihood earning here," another female worker, head of a 10 member-family, told Xinhua.
