Executive Summary

Imposing mountains dominate the landscape of Chitral, forging a rugged terrain that is home to 162,000 males and 157,000 females. The topography of the area is varied, with 28.5% of the region covered in glaciers, snow-clad mountains, bare rock and barren ground, and 62% of the land supporting only pasture with sparse vegetation. The district’s most important productive resource is irrigated farmland totalling 45,017 ha, which feeds and provides employment to the majority of its people. Critical as a food source as well as a means to augment farm income are about 700,000 head of livestock (75% goats and sheep). Forests cover 70,045 ha, mainly in Chitral and Drosh tehsils. Of this area, 25,000 ha is suitable for commercial harvesting. Despite widespread hunting by the local people, the remote mountain valleys of Chitral are home to a considerable variety of wildlife.

Major Achievements

The grit of the people, the efforts of provincial government departments, and donor assistance channelled through development initiatives such as the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) and Chitral Area Development Project (CADP), have allowed Chitral’s inhabitants to maintain a precarious toehold on survival despite a threefold increase in population since 1951. In addition to major roads to Garum Chashma, Gilgit, Mastuj and P e s h a w a r, the district is traversed by 800 km of link roads which create access to widely scattered settlements. Meanwhile, voluntary social organisation and the application of gruelling labour have enabled water to be conveyed great distances over rocky ground to irrigate farmland. Electricity is available to 67% of house-holds, and piped water to 88% and 41% of urban and rural households, respectively. Approximately 10% of the population has access to telephones.

Of individuals aged 10 years and above, 10% have received primary education, 7.5% have studied up to the middle level and 6.5% have completed matriculation, while 2% each have obtained secondary and degree-level education. Some 12% of students drop out before completing primary school. Currently 51% of males and 31% of females between the ages of 5 and 24 are engaged in education.

Health care is provided through a district headquarters and three tehsil headquarters hospitals, as well as three rural health centres, 22 basic health units, 22 dispensaries, three mother and child health centres, and three specialised centres, one each for immunisation, leprosy and malaria. The efforts of local farmers, agriculture and forestry scientists, as well as the AKRSP and CADP, have brought about a consider-able increase in crop yields, as well as a decline in the incidence of livestock disease. Close to 9 million forest trees have been planted since 1988, although their survival has not been monitored.

Major Constraints to Further Development

Chitral is the only district in all of Pakistan to become cut off from the rest of the country for several months during the winter when the Lowari Pass (3,200 m) is blocked with snow. Winter snow and summer floods also disrupt communications within Chitral.

The area’s isolation during the winter casts a shadow on every aspect of daily life, restricting the mobility of labour, disrupting agricultural exports, and interfering with imports of grain, livestock feed and agricultural inputs. Deficiencies in the internal communications network, combined with a short working season, impair the quality and reach of health and education services, and hinder development work in general.

Chitral’s most important potential asset is human capital. Yet recent statistics show that some 24,000 men and 40 women from 15 to 64 years of age are unemployed (GoP, 1999). Human resource development is constrained by the fact that expansion in certain key sectors has proven difficult. Primary health care, reproductive education, curative medicine, potable water supply, and quality education and training, especially among women, are areas that require urgent attention. In addition, reliable communications both within the district, and between Chitral and the rest of the country, are essential. Other constraining factors include lack of aware-ness among the population and a scarcity of material resources required to initiate remedial measures on an effective scale.

Agricultural activity in Chitral depends on irrigation. Since the overall area under irrigation is small, as are individual land holdings, an immediate increase in household farm income only becomes possible if both the productivity and profitability of agriculture can be improved. This in turn requires that measures are taken to bolster the agriculture sector: protecting farmland from soil erosion, preventing the diversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses, maintaining irrigation channels and levelling ground for more effective irrigation. The government’s current agricultural research and extension service must also respond more effectively to the requirements of local communities.

In the medium and long term, new land will need to be brought under irrigation—a fact not lost on the people of Chitral themselves. The sector has already received consider-able attention and significant resource out-lays from the AKRSP and ADP. To increase the area under irrigation, detailed studies will be required to determine the potential of remaining level land to support agriculture. The adequacy of available water resources will also need to be investigated, along with the cost-effectiveness of conveying water to the areas selected for irrigation. In addition, disputes over ownership of land and water will need to be resolved. While the task of irrigating new land is arduous, expensive and time consuming, its critical role in enabling agricultural activity makes irrigation a critical part of any plan to alleviate poverty and create employment in the long term.

Livestock rearing is a key component of Chitral’s economy, providing food and allowing local communities to supplement their income by selling wool and hides. Since husbandry is managed primarily by women, income generation schemes aimed specifically at women can be channelled through this sector.

Expansion in this sector is constrained primarily by the shortage of animal feed in the winter. Animals are kept indoors from late autumn to early spring, during which time they are fed crop residues and dry fodder.
Feed shortages not only affect the health of livestock, but also restrict the number of animals a household is able to rear. In late spring and early autumn, herds forage in subtropical and temperate grazing lands covering 57,600 ha, spending the summers in alpine and subalpine grazing lands extending over 316,000 ha. Many of these areas are being rapidly denuded. Other constraints to the development of husbandry include parasites, disease and inadequate shelter.

Besides advancements in the farming and livestock sectors, harnessing Chitral’s hydroelectric potential will considerably improve the quality of life for the majority of the population. Work in this direction is already underway with the small-scale Reshun and Shishi-II hydel projects currently under construction. Upon completion, these schemes will increase overall production. Supply to Chitral’s scattered habitations, however, will depend on the speed with which a distribution grid can be set up. Communities to whom supply cannot be extended cost-effectively will need to build their own micro-hydel power plants, relying on social organisation. In addition to subsidies, the success of these initiatives will require the establishment of a fully equipped work-shop in Chitral where repairs may be carried out, and training for village residents in operation and maintenance.

A matter of critical concern for the people of Chitral is reliable access to a year-round supply of potable water. According to the 1998 census, 88% of the urban population of Chitral receives piped water. But among rural inhabitants, who comprise 90% of Chitral’s total population, only 41% receive water through pipelines. The rugged terrain of the area, coupled with its severe climate, create a major obstacle to expanding the supply of potable water. During the winter, pipelines are known to freeze and eventually burst, cutting off supply to large segments of the population.

Renewable resources in Chitral are under heavy pressure from a forestry system that does not take into account the needs of the people. Meanwhile, fodder scarcity and domestic energy requirements contribute to the denudation of watersheds and grazing lands.

Ecotourism is a valuable potential asset for Chitral, bringing in its wake a number of synergistic improvements in other sectors. Development issues that are important in and of themselves—facilitating access; improving health care; increasing the supply of potable water; protecting the environment; upgrading areas of ecological interest, such as forests, alpine grazing lands and biodiversity areas; and conserving cultural heritage—are also likely to make the area a more attractive tourist destination.

Removing Constraints

For the inhabitants of Chitral, to eke out a living is a challenge fraught with difficulty at every turn. Generating meaningful development in the area will require the sustained involvement of both the government and the people. The Chitral Conservation Strategy (CCS) endorses a bottom-up approach to development planning and expects local communities to make their contribution at every step of the process, from planning and design to operation and maintenance. To help finance such initiatives, the CCS envisions the launching of a Chitral Fund for Sustainable Development. At the same time, however, major investment will be required from the federal and provincial governments in sectors that are the state’s responsibility: providing infrastructure facilities for governance, communications, education, health, potable water, sanitation and electricity. The time frame for implementation of the CCS is 10 years. A review is to be conducted after the first five years, at which stage the strategy may be amended by the Zilla Council. The CCS will come into effect upon approval by the Zilla Council. The Zilla Nazim will lead implementation and monitor progress, with the assistance of the District Coordination Officer and the district Finance and Planning Office.

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