MAIMANA (SW) – A number of producers and sellers of handicrafts in Faryab say that the market of selling handicrafts in this province has decreased since almost two years.
Zainab, one of the handicraft producers in Faryab, said that in the past years when foreign aid institutions supported handicrafts, the market for their produce and sales was good, but with the decrease in the activities of foreign aid institutions in the last two years, the handicraft market has faded.
She wants the government and national businessmen to support producers by investing in the domestic production sector.
Seyed Ezzatullah, a handicraft seller in Maimana city, Faryab’s center, said that before, people used to order headboards, mattresses, pillows and local clothes for their weddings, but he said that in the last year, due to the rising prices of goods and the lack of employment opportunities, people cannot afford to buy handicraft products at all.
Naqibullah Hanafi, the head of industry and trade union in Faryab, said that imported goods are cheaper than domestic products, and for this reason, the market for domestic products, including handicrafts, has been facing troubles.
Emphasizing upon the support of domestic production, he asked the government to reduce taxes on domestically produced goods and increase taxes on imported goods so that the market of domestic goods could prosper.
It should be mentioned that handicrafts such as flower embroidery, zardozi, embroidery and beadwork have been going on in the country for a long time, but now, due to the tough economic situation, its sales market has declined.
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