BAJAUR: Speakers at an event here on Friday urged farmers to adopt modern tools for cultivating multiple crops and vegetables to make the district self-sufficient in essential food items.

The ceremony, held in connection with the distribution of vertical net farming tools under the World Bank-sponsored Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Investment and Institutional Support Project (KP-RIISP), was attended by a number of selected farmers from across the district.

Deputy Commissioner Shahid Ali Khan, local agriculture department director Islam ul Haq, senior agriculturalist Dr Subhanuddin, KP-RIISP officials and World Bank representatives attended the ceremony held at the Farmers Services Centre in Raghagan.

The speakers including Shahid Ali Khan, officials of the local agriculture department and representatives of the World Bank and KP-RIISP said that adopting modern technology-based farming tools was imperative to improve the agriculture sector in the district.

Speakers seek advanced farming techniques for growers

They noted that modern agriculture technology and techniques had been used in many countries across the world since long and had significantly boosted the agriculture sector.

However, they maintained that farmers in majority areas of the country, mainly of backward parts, including the tribal districts were still deprived of its use and benefits in this modern era of agriculture.

They stated that the land of Bajaur was highly suitable for all kinds of crops and vegetables due to its favourable climate and fertile soil and that the use of modern farming tools would greatly improve the agriculture sector, a major source of livelihood for local residents.

Shahid Ali Khan on the occasion asked the officials of the local agriculture department and its sponsored organisations to equip farmers with modern farming tools and advanced techniques to help boost the agriculture sector in the district.

KP-RIISP officials and World Bank representatives told the ceremony that their organisations had launched multiple initiatives to introduce modern farming technologies in the district.

They added that vertical net farming was among the initiatives that had significant potential to boost the agriculture sector, especially for vegetables.

About the importance of vertical net farming, the officials told the ceremony that this is a low cost solution for high yields.

Vertical net farming is a variation of vertical agriculture in which crops are grown on stacked layers of netting or trellis instead of solid shelves,” they added, saying the system is gaining traction in Pakistan and other land-scarce regions as a low-cost method to boost output per square meter.

They further explained that one kanal of vertical nets can match the yield of 3–4 kanals of traditional flat farming.

The participants were told that as per the plan dozens of farmers were being provided vertical net farming tools during the current season.

They expressed the hope that the initiatives being offered to farmers free of cost would not only make the district self-sufficient in vegetables but also enable farmers to export produce to other cities of the country.

Later, several farmers were given vertical net farming tools.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2026