CHITRAL, Dec 14: The agriculture department has failed to organise the annual exhibition of agricultural produce on district level for the last one decade. The event used to instill a spirit of competition among farmers for growing better fruits and crops.

Talking to Dawn here on Tuesday, a number of farmers recalled that they would work hard throughout the year to take part in the exhibition of fruits, vegetables and other cereal crops.

One Zerbali Khan from Reshun village said that the event was an occasion of congregation of farmers from all the 36 valleys of Chitral and provided them a rare opportunity to share their experiences. He said that such experiences would help them to improve their agricultural produce.

Another farmer Zaraman Shah from Mulkhow valley said that the race for getting top prizes made them to take special care of their vegetables and fruits and they would try new ways and means to bring improvement in quality of the produce. He said that according to format the exhibitions were first held on union council level and then the winners competed on the district level.

He said that though the agriculture section of AKRSP had successfully introduced species of different fruits and vegetables in the area, no exhibition was arranged to display them for the benefit of farmers.

Mohkamuddin from Ayun recalled that exhibition of fruits and vegetables in Chitral dated back to the era of the dynastic rulers of Chitral in 1930s and the rulers would reward the winners by giving them more land. He said that even the Kalash minority used to win the best prize for superb quality of grapes, which they still grew on commercial scale.

An official of the agriculture department said that they had no resources for such activities following devolution in the district. He said that budget of some departments such as livestock and dairy development and fisheries were also faced cut that affected their performance.

The official said that exhibitions were essential tool to encourage growers to commercialise their produce in the national market. He recalled that the local variety of pear (shoghori) of Chtiral won the first prize at an exhibition in Karachi some years ago.