A number of handicraft makers have expressed concern over declining sales and the shrinking market for their products. They say that producing handicrafts requires precision, skill, and considerable time and expense, but the lack of a suitable market and falling demand have created serious challenges in sales and marketing. According to them, in past years handicraft products had a considerable number of customers both inside and outside the country, but in recent years the number of customers has declined.
Craftspeople also say that women active in this sector face restrictions on attending and participating in exhibitions, restrictions that, in their view, have reduced opportunities to showcase and sell their products and to access new markets.
Omid (pseudonym), the manager of one handicraft workshop, says that handicrafts are produced with great precision and effort, but the market for selling these products has declined in recent years. According to him, craftspeople previously had both domestic and foreign customers.
The manager of this handicraft workshop says: “Previously, we received foreign orders online and sent them to customers through shipping companies, but now, due to unfavorable economic conditions inside the country, domestic customers’ purchasing power has declined. On the other hand, problems related to transport routes have also caused the foreign customer market to shrink.”
Haifa Alkozai, a handicraft maker, says that craftspeople, despite their great effort and enthusiasm, face serious problems in selling and marketing their products as they try to keep the country’s handicraft arts alive and earn a living through their own labor.
Alkozai adds: “We handicraft makers work hard to keep our country’s arts and handicrafts alive and to make a living through our own labor, but unfortunately these days the sales market has shrunk considerably, and we do not have customers or a suitable market to sell our products.”
This craftsperson says that women in the trade also face restrictions on attending and participating in exhibitions, a situation that has reduced their opportunities to showcase and sell their products.
She says: “We do not want much assistance; we only want the opportunity to work, sell, and be seen. Please listen to our voice and take steps to solve these problems.”
Ahmad (pseudonym), the manager of another handicraft workshop, says that a large number of women are engaged in handicraft production in home-based work teams, and that in recent months the quality and standard of their products have improved, but the market for buying and selling these products has become very sluggish.
The manager of this workshop says: “There are days when we do not make a single sale in an entire day. Because of the shrinking handicraft market, we have been forced to reduce the number of our employees.”
Ahmad adds: “If opportunities are created to display our products in global markets and Afghanistan’s handicrafts are introduced to other countries, our sales market will also flourish, and the volume of buying and selling will increase. Despite the effort we put in, unfortunately we do not achieve the desired results.”
Meanwhile, Seyar Quraishi, an economic affairs expert, warns that the shrinking handicraft sales market is directly affecting craftspeople’s income and reducing job opportunities, particularly for women and families who work from home.
Quraishi says: “When sales are low, producers lose the ability to purchase raw materials, expand their work, and hire new employees, and several handicraft makers are forced to abandon this profession.” According to him, the decline in people’s purchasing power, rising prices of raw materials, the influx of cheap goods and machine-made products, weak marketing, and limited access to domestic and foreign markets are among the most important factors behind the decline in demand for handicrafts.
This economic expert emphasizes that improving the state of the handicraft market requires attention to improving the quality and design of products in line with market needs, expanding online sales, holding exhibitions, and creating opportunities for exports.
This comes as, following the Taliban’s takeover and Afghanistan’s global isolation, the handicraft sector, like other sectors, has largely lost the position and role it had gained in global markets, and its output has declined. Craftspeople, particularly women who played an important role in producing these goods, are unable to produce, sell, or showcase their products due to severe gender based restrictions, and on the other hand, an unprecedented economic downturn has further worsened the situation.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
کاهش فروش صنایعدستی؛ صنعتکاران از محدودیتها و کمرونقشدن بازار نگرانند
