USAID Helps Women Prosper by Growing Sought-After

Botanical Ingreient for !"port

August 2014
Flowering plant valued as a
cosmetic ingredient
provides regular income for
rural poor
Freshly-picked common mallow
fowers by Strpce women farmers,
before being taken to a collection
center.
Ankica Zivkovic, a common mallow
grower and lead woman farmer from
Gotovsa!Strpce, advising fellow
women farmers on harvesting
techni"es of common mallow
fowers and leaves.
USAID is helping expand cultivation of a fowering
plant prized by the sin!care industry for its emollient
properties to bring lasting economic relief to a
multiethnic group of women farmers"
USAID# along with the nonpro$t %omen for %omen
International# is supporting &' ethnic Serb and
Albanian women cultivate small plots of common
mallow (#alva sylvestris) in two villages in this largely
rural municipality in southern *osovo" USAID provided
the women with seeds# seedlings and drip!irrigation
e+uipment# along with technical advice in raising the
crop"
,he women began harvesting the plant-s leaves and
fowers in .ay# selling them to Agroprodut Shp* for
&"/ 0uros per ilogram" ,he price allows each farmer#
woring in her spare time# to earn upward of the 122
0uros per month an average worer maes in *osovo"
3I lie this crop because I get to wor close to my
home and it re+uires very little investment" I also see
my neighbors who are doing really well woring with
this crop" ,hey have their children woring alongside#
and are maing a steady income#4 says Anica
5ivovi6# a farmer in the village of 7otovusha" 3It-s
easy to pic the fowers and anyone can do it" %ith
other crops you don-t always have the maret for it# so
it-s hard" In the case of common mallow we are
guaranteed a maret"4
,he women form part of a networ of small family
farmers who supply Agroprodut" %oring through
collection centers# the $rm buys freshly harvested
mallow on a daily basis from .ay through 8ctober"
In 7otovusha and the nearby village of 9rod# the
women tend family plots that range in size from /22
to &#222 s+uare meters" 8verall# about : hectares (&2
acres) of mallow are under cultivation across *osovo"
,he nature of the mallow plant limits its cultivation to
small plots"
3Although common mallow is such is a demanding and
labor!intensive crop# it is also much sought!after and
very suitable for farming families with many hands to
help#4 explains Samir ;eza# a medicinal and aromatic
plant expert with USAID-s <ew 8pportunities for
Agriculture (<8A) pro=ect"
Agroprodut collects and dries the mallow plant-s
$SA%&!'(A)s *rogram &irector
+from right, and #A* e-pert
visiting .elds of common mallow
worked on by women farmers
leaves and fowers and then exports them# mostly to
buyers in 7ermany" ,here# the plant $nds its way into
a large number of cosmetic and natural!health
products" For example# the fower extract contains a
soothing gel used in sin lotions" .eanwhile# its leaves
are used in herbal and medicinal teas"
Some of the women farmers have begun to dry
mallow on their own# which earns them a higher price
and expands Agroprodut-s export capacity" In
response# the $rm is considering o>ering some of the
growers a $ve!year contract# says owner ?alit Avdi=a="
3,his is the $rst time we have targeted women
farmers in resource!poor# rural areas and have
managed to arrange the logistics for this very
sensitive product and maintain its +uality to meet
stringent 0uropean Union +uality standards#4 says
.ar %ood# chief of party of USAID-s <8A pro=ect" 3,o
see the enthusiasm and self!esteem shown by the
women farmers in having their own income source is
very encouraging"4
USAID funded the <8A pro=ect to support its overall
strategy of promoting growth# creating =obs and
generating exports in *osovo"