KHYBER: With climate and topography conducive for cannabis cultivation, coupled with limited access to modern farming, farmers in most parts of Tirah valley have cultivated the contraband crop on their vast lands.

Lush green cannabis farms can be spotted and its unique aroma can be felt in the air once a visitor descends into the sprawling Tirah valley from Sheen Qamar while travelling to upper Bara and onwards to Bagh Maidan Markaz of Tirah.

Though most of the farmlands are situated on both sides of the Bara River, which originates from Rajgal snowy mountains on the border with Afghanistan, cannabis crops require comparatively little water with most Tirah farmers relying on persistent rainfall to irrigate their profitable big leafy crop.

Growing cannabis or hemp on most of the farmlands is considered a decade-old agricultural tradition and also a source of livelihood for locals along with poppy cultivation in winter and then harvesting it in spring, according to farmers.

Locals say assistance by district admin and agriculture dept can change their destiny

Mir Ras Khan, a resident of upper Bara, told this scribe during a recent visit to the fertile but mostly neglected region that cultivation of hemp and poppy was both a necessity and compulsion for them to financially sustain their militancy-affected families, who had only recently returned to their homes.

He was, however, quick to add that given adequate farming opportunities and modern facilities in agriculture, they would not hesitate in substituting both poppy and cannabis with a variety of profitable vegetable and fruit orchards.

“Our region would produce quality rice, onion, apples, grapes, persimmon, tomatoes and potatoes before the region was forcibly occupied by outlawed militant groups and locals were forced to relocate to Bara and Peshawar back in 2012,” he said.

He added that there was still huge potential for replacing the banned crops with quality fruits and a variety of vegetables due to fertile nature of the soil if proper attention was paid to it by authorities.

Mr Khan said that their decade-long displacement dealt a severe blow to their agriculture with most of their farmlands becoming barren while their water channel system completely becoming dysfunctional due to lack of maintenance.

Qazi Farman, a young social activist from Sandana village, told this scribe that the old water channel system would not only irrigate their agricultural lands but would also cater to needs of drinking water. “Unfortunately we have now lost both these sources due to excessive damage to old water channels,” he lamented.

He demanded of agriculture department to provide them with quality seeds of all types of vegetable and fruit saplings in abundance along with timely provision of fertilisers as their region was considered fertile for such interventions.

He said that houses of most of the returned families were badly damaged during their decade-long displacement and rebuilding of their damaged homes was their priority.

He added that they opted for less cumbersome agricultural activity by cultivating hemp and poppy to get quick monetary benefits.

He insisted that a perpetual assistance from district administration and particularly agriculture department could change their destiny and bring about a positive change in their otherwise impoverished lives.

Officials of agriculture department, when contacted, said that they had already distributed thousands of saplings of different varieties among locals in Mastak while a huge number of wild olive plants were also grafted for quality olive production in Thora Vela locality.

They said that establishment of a farmers facilitation centre was in its final stages and once it was completed, local farmers would be imparted training along with provision of necessary tools while frequency of their instructors’ visits to the region would be also increased.

Officials said that they were trying to reach out to maximum number of local farmers and provide assistance to them to improve their farming skills and enhance their farm’s produce.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025