People and Economy in Northern Mountains of Pakistan

People and Economy in Northern Mountains of Pakistan

  September 08, 2019    Fantasy

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Harsh living due to topography and climate conditions

•    The population, settlement, and economic activities within the Northern Mountains have been greatly influenced by the variations in topography, which impose harsh living conditions and tend to restrict movement and communications.

Low economic growth rate

•    The economy in the Northern Mountains has developed on traditional lines.
•    Much of the Northern Mountains area is characterized by a very low economic growth rate combined with a high rate of population growth, which prevents growth in the already low level of per capita income (average income per person).

Dependency on agriculture

•    Most of the population is dependent on agriculture, primarily subsistence agriculture and cattle breeding.
•    Farming is practiced on terraced fields where wheat, rice barley, maize and vegetables are grown.

Cottage and small scale industry

•    During winter many people work in cottage and small-scale industries.
•    The outputs of these industries are carpets, embroidered material, rugs and other handicraft items.
•    The domestic and foreign tourists, who visit these places, mainly during the summer season, value these products.
•    The major industries include the processing of food grains, making vegetable oil, and refining sugar.
•    Fruit processing is also an important industry.
•    There are a few modern industries but mineral resources have not been explored as yet.

Hydro-electric Potential

•    The Northern Mountains have major hydro-electric potential, but the development of hydro-electric resources requires huge capital investment, which is not available.
•    The skilled labor needed to organize and manage the development of natural resources is also limited due to the low literacy rates.

Poor facilities

•    Most of the people face a shortage of safe drinking water and poor health.
•    Moreover food production in the Northern Mountains has not kept up with the population growth so they also face malnutrition.

Trade links

•    Some of the towns in the Northern Areas like Mingaora, Murree, Kaghan and Gilgit have regional trade by road with cities like Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Abbottabad.
•    However, due to difficult terrain and limited transport facilities it is difficult to carry out regional trade on a large scale.
•    Tourism is also popular in the Northern Mountains but it has had an adverse impact on regions where tourist numbers exceed the facilities available.