KOHAT, Oct 18: Speakers at a seminar organised by the United Nations Development Programme, on the world  poverty day, here on Thursday identified lack of skills and capital as the core problem of the poverty stricken area.

The conference was attended by 200 rural activists, counsellors and the members of the community organisations.

Speaking on the occasion Mohammad Maqsood informed that the 19,800 households out of total 30,000, in the 9 Union Councils covered  by the Lachi Poverty Reduction Project, which was assisted by the UN in the selected areas of the NWFP, were very poor.

 The people of the area had identified the lack of skills and capital,  as the core problem of the area, while the women had identified health and education needs.

He said Tehsil Lachi was a resource-poor area with limited business opportunities and scarcity of drinking water was a major problem in the villages of the project area. 

Responding to the situation the Project had  started 252 schemes of which 70 per cent were water supply schemes, which  benefited over 10,000 households, he said.

To solve the water problem the project had  constructed more than 52 mini-dams for storing rainwater, he said.

To address the capital needs of the poor, loans worth Rs10 million had been disbursed among 1500 households.  

He said training had been given to 3,000 persons (including women) who were now utilising their skills for income generation.

The participants were told that under the natural resource management programme, of the project, the farmers would get maximum production from their land & livestock.