MULTAN, Jan 16th: Romana Tanvir Sheikh Senior Vice President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI)has said that craftsmen and women should produce unique and good quality items to attract the buyers.They should use high quality material in hand made dresses and other products.She was addressing the participants of a kit distribution ceremony after completion of training course by Farmers Development organisation (FDO)with the assistance of USAID in Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry . She said that they should get expertise in other crafts include embroidery, knitting, crochet, rug making, woodwork, pottery, metalwork, and the making of agriculture implements. Ms.Romana said that Farmers Development Organization(FDO) is implementing a project “Promoting the Handicrafts of Southern Punjab through Women Social Enterprises” and conducting a training On “Marketing & Management of Social Enterprise”.She said that 140 male and female craftsmen were selected from rural area and ther were trained in different trades in a month.Executive Director of FDO Ghulam Mustafa told that FDO is working in Saraiki Region (Southern Punjab), through participatory principles, benefitting hundreds of peasants, women and general communities in the fields of Livelihood, Institutional Development, Emergency Relief, Community Physical Infrastructure, Preventing gender based violence and promoting access to justice. He assured that a display centre would be established in Multan for the marketing of products of craftsmen. The organization has a successful history in designing projects, subsequently through conducting the assessments of community problems, creating and engaging the local volunteers for implementing and monitoring the projects.He further said that United States Government through USAID is helping Pakistanis secure a more prosperous future by increasing household incomes and employment, nurturing competitive small and medium enterprises, expanding trade and investment, creating more rewarding business opportunities, building on-farm irrigation infrastructure, and promoting a vibrant agricultural sector. Pakistan’s agriculture sector employs more than 40 percent of the nation’s workforce and is a key driver of the country’s economic growth. USAID has worked with Pakistan to boost productivity by developing new crop varieties and improving management practices. USAID assistance also helps small- and medium-sized agricultural businesses access financing and tap into more lucrative markets.Convener Women entrepreneurs Committee Sarwat Zahra , Dr. Mazhar Kaleem, Zohra Sajjad Zaidi, Khurram Javed Secretary General of MCCI,
