Human life is impossible without agriculture; industrially advanced areas depend on it indirectly while the rural settlement is directly benefited with this profession. So far as Swat concerns, about 99% of the population are cultivators. With the exception of a few, all the landowners have small tracks of land. These holdings are so small that the holders are not only landlords but they are peasants too.

The ever increasing demands for daily life compels the poor peasants to get more and more yields of the tiny tracts of soil. So they use various techniques and chemical fertilizers with the addition of cattle dung in large scale. The barren soils are made arable, the narrow farms where the plough cannot be used, are tilted by mattocks, the week soils are deprived of yearly rest, one cropped areas converted into two crop areas, and single crop farms changed into orchards.

In the hilly areas, huge walls have been constructed to make farms on the slopes. The advantage of these walls is to protect the fertility of the soil and hinder erosion. In spite of this hard work, the poor peasants can not get enough yields to suffice for their livelihood. Therefore some of the members of the family migrate to large cities for services to earn much money to meet their needs.

Though Swat is totally an agricultural zone, yet it's per acre out put is low. Some of The detrimental factors for the high yield are the following:

Fragmentation

The individual holdings have been subdivided and a single owner has parts of his holdings in various places of the village. For example, a holder of an acre land has parts of that one-acre in different places, therefore, the farmers cannot serve them properly.

Irregular Irrigation

The next item responsible for low production is irregular irrigation system. Vast areas in Swat solely depend upon rainfalls. The peasants sow the seeds in the hope of rain, but when, unfortunately, the rain misses time, the seeds are either rotten in soil or picked up by birds, ants, and other insects. If it rains, sometimes, the rainy streams become so overflowed that the surplus water gushes in the newly sown or newly grown fields and a layer of debris is deposited over them. So both the seeds and the newly germinated plants are spoiled out.

The Lake of Manure

The cattle dung was used as fertilizer some years ago. Now the position has changed. Dung is no more used as manure but rather as fuel. It has also affected the production, the farmers try to get the best type of fertilizers but they are not given it easily by the government. Therefore, many of the weak farms are given seasonal or yearly rest to obtain the energy from the natural sources. Moreover, the prices of fertilizers are so high that the farmers are about to give up their use.

The Claims of Khans

The poor and hard working peasants want to make the barren soil on the slopes of the hills clean and arable. But the Khans and other lords prevent them to do so because they claim that the hills and mountains of Swat are their belongings.

The final factor responsible for the low agricultural production is limited to the proper valley of Swat only. As the Swat river is not channelized so its unchecked flow causes to wash away vast cultivated areas every year and deprives the poor peasants from their land tracts.

The ex-Wali was to channelize the water of this river, but unfortunately his dream was not realised and Swat absorbed in Pakistan.