More than 5,000 people affected by the 2010 floods in Upper Dir will be given toolkits to collect medicinal and aromatic plants.
They are being given these toolkits under a project titled “Post Flood Livelihood Recovery Project for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants” (MAP), which is funded by USAID and the Human development Organisation Doaba (HDOD).
A spokesperson for USAID said Friday that this project, which will last until June 2011, will benefit at least 70 per cent of women collectors in Upper Dir.
The spokesperson said that under this project MAP collectors from 10 Union Councils in Upper Dir are being provided with knowledge and skills through tailor-made training for the safe and sustainable collection of herbs and spices. Each toolkit includes 16 different items for proper collection of plants.
More than 2,500 MAP collectors have been selected so far, of whom 1,640 are women.
The HDOD also arranged a three-day “Training of Trainers” (TOT) from April 3 to 5 in Peshawar, chaired by management specialist Dr Muhammad Sher Khan.
Dr Sher gave participants a detailed insight on the importance of management and processing of high value medicinal and aromatic plants in Upper Dir. He said that Pakistan exports MAP worth around US$5 million, while spending nearly US$130 million on MAP imports.
Later, a session was arranged where all participants were required to demonstrate the process of collecting herbs that are abundant in Upper Dir.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2011.
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