I want to share the experience of my rural area (upper swat) which is well known as peach producing area. The prices of agricultural products are minimum in rural area, and are too low in our country e.g equal to cheating poor farmers. The example of peaches produced in rural areas indicates that the farmers in rural areas sell their products at one USD (100 PKR) to the rich people outside (middle men). The middlemen then sell that product at 50 USD in the fruit market of big cities of Lahore and Karachi to rich men. The peaches are processed in big cities and the products of peaches (jam and juice, etc.) are sold back in rural areas at very high prices, which poor people cannot afford to buy.

This is the cheating of rural people (80% to 90 % smallholders). This is because of the weak policies of our government which give no attention to rural people. This is the major cause of rural people i.e. agriculture people migration to big cities. This has a negative impact on agriculture development in rural areas. The government, FAO and other donor agencies must concentrate on rural development in Pakistan. The very bad political system is responsible for non development of rural areas.

Installing processing units for vegetables and fruits in rural areas can make the rural area highly developed and will significantly stop rural migration to cities. I am ready to help free of cost FAO if FAO is interested in rural area development in our country.

I will write more in detail. But at the moment I don't have access to a computer.

Dr. Amanullah

Associate Professor of Agronomy

The University of Agriculture Peshawar