Introduction

Karak is a district of the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. It is situated to the south of Kohat District and on the north side of Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts on the main Indus Highway between Peshawar and Karachi. It is 123 km from the provincial capital Peshawar.
Khattak tribe predominantly populates the district; one of the famous tribes of Pashtuns. Karak has one of the largest uranium mines in Pakistan under supervision of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. Gas has been recently discovered in Shakardara, Gurguri and Makori areas. Agriculture is the main source of living of people.

The district of Karak is administratively subdivided into three tehsils which are Banda Daud Shah, Karak and Takht-e-Nasrati.
Honey production is widespread in Karak. The most important indigenous flora for honey production includes Ber and Phulai (Acacia). Ber honey is very popular. Due to the fine quality of honey, it is exported to markets at provincial and national level. Most of the honey entrepreneurs producing Ber honey were outsiders. Looking into the potential of the Karak area, FFSP and partner organizations motivated local communities for production of Ber honey. It was identified under the Non Timber Forest Produce, which has high income potential for the poor and landless. The local people started taking interest in the enterprise due to its high profitability potential and increasing demand. Hafiz Masood of village Takht-e-Nasrati was one of them. He was interested in taking up honey production as a business with the support of the local partner NGO ‘YARAAN’ (the friends). Hafiz Masood is a small farmer, with a little piece of land. He had prior knowledge of honey production and trade at local level.

District Karak has the highest literacy rate after Islamabad and Wah. Since both Islamabad and Wah are mainly composed of temporarily migrated people, therefore Karak is ranked as the highest educated district.

Karak is very hot in summer, during the summer temperature touching 45-50oC and sand storms are common. However, Lakkara regions are the coolest part in summer where people use blankets at night. The best time to visit is between Nov-April with lush green fields of wheat and grams. The people of karak are very hardworking in both public and private sector, but there is lack of job accuracy. They try to achieve meaningful growth for their areas.

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