Agriculture is the only source of livelihood for majority population of the Northern Areas and Chitral. Out of the total 74,200-sq km rugged and mountainous geographical area, only one per cent is suitable for cultivation. The region falls in single cropping zone and is deficient in food grains and one-quarter to one-third of the requirements are met from the local production.

Beside these, Nature has endowed the region with other natural resources and diverse climatic conditions. Therefore,despite small land holdings the region has the potential to produce high quality horticultural products and vegetable seeds that has greater export scope in regional, national and international markets. New ways and new sources of knowledge are required to learn latest farming and entrepreneurial skills in order to exploit these untapped resources of the region. Perhaps, the greatest comparative advantage that the area enjoys is in the production of fresh and dried fruits.

During the past few years,the strategy of different governments and the non-governmental organizations has been to introduce different farm inputs and varieties of horticultural crops in isolation to marketing forces. This strategy ultimately increased the productivity of these crops in the region, but due to the absence of proper marketing forces the local farmers are still unable to get its due benefit. According to a survey conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Northern Areas, the combined production of various fruits is over 1,68,823 tonnes: out of which about 67,342 tonnes (40 per cent) goes waste as post harvest losses.

The existing marketing set-up is deficient in ensuring fair returns to the growers and is dominated by fraudulent practices and crook intermediaries. Rough handling, congestion, lack of processing units and storages are the common hurdles. The unfair return frustrates the growers, thus impeding the quality and quantity of the produce. Although the NAs are linked with plains by mighty Kara Kuram Highway, during the seasonal glut large quantity of produce is lost and it is impossible to market these perishable and semi-perishable products to distant markets. Since, fresh produce is seasonal and the supply fluctuates throughout the season, a market may exist for dried and processed fruits and vegetables. Therefore, it is well advisable to undertake different processing ventures to desirable to encourage value addition through fruit and vegetable processing.

The dry fruit project of the Aga Khan rural support programme is successfully working on the processing and export of dried apricots. But depending only on a single crop is a risky business both for the project and local growers. The AKRSP has an established institutional set-up as well as credibility among the local community. There is a need to explore potential of other fruits such as fresh and dried apples, cherries, almonds, walnuts, mulberry, pears, peaches, apricot kernels and different vegetables. But it is important that the purpose of such ventures should not be to earn excesive profit at the expense of the local community. Their primary aim should be to establish sustainable and viable business institutions in the region for the benefit of the local community.

Besides fruits, potato is the only cash crop in the region and due to the fluctuation in prices and fraudulent practices of the traders farmers are not getting proper return. Therefore, it is important to have a proper marketing strategy for potato.Such ventures will ultimately increase the standard of living of the local farming community.