GARDIZ (PAN): The economy of Paktia province depends mainly on agriculture, trade and semi trade activities, residents said.
Geographically, the province has little plain area suitable for agricultural purposes, however, the productive nature of little area produces greater profits for the farmers.
Agriculture and Livestock:
Niaz Mohammad Lali Zadran, provincial head of agriculture department was of the opinion that 75% people were associated with the profession of agriculture.
Major agriculture products of Paktia includes wheat, barley, corn, rice and other grains, he said adding production of fruits had enhanced in recent years but farmers turned their attention towards rising orchards of different fruits such as apples, grips, walnut and other dry fruits in the recent past. 
Zardran informed that a large number of people were raising bees, which greatly contributed to the strength of economy of the province.
Farmers of the province demanded of the relevant quarters to help resolve their pressing needs, which would go a long way to enhance production of their crops.
Usman, a farmer from Ahmadabad district said agriculture was ignored despite large scale development in multiple fields in the last decades.
Refined seeds, urea, and special assistance in the field of livestock were provided by the government to the formers, he admitted.
Janat Gul, a resident who associate with the profession of bee raising said provincial agriculture department arranged a training workshop and provided them with some necessary equipment only once in the past ten years.
He went on to say the province had enough room for bees industry booming if the government provided the needed assistance for the established bees industry in the province. He said the move would strengthen economy of the people and created more job opportunities.
Lali Zadran, head of provincial agriculture department while admitting the current problems said that authorities were struggling hard to tackle problems in each sector.
He noted that every year hundreds of tons of refined seeds was being distributed among the farmers in spring season with arranging special training in the field of poultry, veterinary services for livestock and other agriculture related services have been provided to the farmers.
He said more attention was needed to be given to develop the forest sector, adding that Zazia Aryub and the famous forest of Mandir was under rehabilitation by the ministry of agriculture.
Trade
The residents of Paktia working abroad mainly in Gulf States with other of the residents associated with the business of agriculture and trade.
Currently, 30,000 locals of Paktia were working abroad in Gulf Countries with their remittances play vital role in the economy of the country and with special reference of Paktia province.
Abdul Samad Muslih, provincial head of work and social affairs says: “thousands of eligible youth are jobless in Paktia province.”
He deplored while saying that thousands of youth were unemployed due to the nonexistence of permanent and large scale factories in the province.
Similarly, the businessmen of the province criticized the authorities for their incompetence to resolve the outstanding issues related to trade and commerce.
Dr. Abdul Naseer Alamyar, head of Paktia chamber of commerce said 1,500 individuals were associated in different kinds of businesses with having membership of 14 trade unions in Paktia province.
Highlighting the problems of traders, he said their main problem was related to the transit root and transportation services as the Afghan transit vehicles were not allowed to transport the transit goods inside Pakistan. He went on to say that they were being stopped somewhere near the border while the Pakistani transit vehicles could transport the transit goods anywhere in Afghanistan or ever across Afghanistan.
He went on saying that Paktia could get greater economic development from the construction of Gardiz-Patan road as it provides another transit corridor for good inside or outside Afghanistan via Karachi.
Handcraft:
Handcraft industry was weak in the province though some women weaves designing gloves, shirts and other small and large piece of clothes.
Women in villages used to weave the handcraft products for self use, however, due to the market demand the products were in greater demand in the market.
Sitarah, a resident of Gardiz city said a number of women were now busy in weaving different pieces of special clothes including shirts, towels, covers of pillows and mattresses, socks and others.
She said only market for these handcraft products existed within Paktia.