The district is devoid of any manufacturing units and big industries, however there are some small enterprises with very few workers employed in these units. The labourers employed are all men and are paid workers. Though it is not an established industry, at home women are involved in handicrafts, on which they spend a lot of time of labour.

A plant named "Mazari" grows in abundance in the area. Many articles for every day use are made from the leaves of this plant. This has become the most important cottage industry in the district.

Other small enterprises comprise auto and electric repair, merchants, wholesale sellers, blacksmiths, cobblers, shoe and cap makers, tailors, and other shops. There are for instance 7 auto electric workshop, with 12 workers, 12 cloth merchants with 12 workers, 10 small Chainaki hotels with 16 workers, 10 general provision trade shops with 10 workers employed, 7 cotton merchants with 11 workers, 6 hair cutting saloon and Hamams with 14 workers, 6 crockery shops with 6 workers employed.

In all there are 96 shops and 192 workers are employed in these shops.⁵⁴ Only a few women got small shops beside their houses; no other women are employed in these small enterprises.

All these units, except medical stores, tobacco traders and arms sellers, do not require any license. There is no vocational training centre in the district, people mostly get training in tailoring, auto electric, motorcycle works and carpentry etc. through the traditional way of apprenticeship at an early age.

There is no major unit of manufacturing. Small unit exist for shoe making, carpentry shops, embroidery etc. Women mostly are involved in weaving of carpet, etc.

Trade is mostly conducted on retail bases. Traders and shopkeepers deal in almost all sorts of goods. Items made of pesh (dwarf palm) like ban, ropes, mats etc. is traded to other districts. Pesh is also taken to Dera Ghazi Khan and other trade centres in Punjab and many persons earn a living from this trade.

Wheat, jowar, moong, cotton, chillies and fruits are sold in other district. Goats and sheep, horses’ wool and skins are also exported to other parts of the country There are large bazaars in Barkhan town and in Rakhni town, where almost all necessary goods are available. Small bazaars exist in Naharkot and Rarkan.

There is no tourism industry in the district. There are a few tourist resorts, but they are not developed properly. Other facilities like good hotels, rest houses, refreshments and developed picnic sports are also not available in the district.

 Handicrafts, mostly embroidery done by women, is taken by middlemen to be sold in other parts of the province or even the country. the work is very time consuming, but the women do not receive a proper price, due to lack of direct access to trade and marketing. Still, most of the work is done for private use, and embroideries do not often find their way to the market.

Woven wool and leather work are of considerable local repute. Woven articles are manufactured by a class of professional weavers known as Channal. For carpets mostly the wool of sheep is used. Gilm, falasi and kharari are the most famous types of carpets. Other woven articles include the chhori, made of sheep wool, and khai and chanji, made of goat and camel hair.

The Industries Department at the provincial level has two Directorates, one under the Director of Industries and one under the Director of Small Industries. The carpet and embroidery training centres are under the jurisdiction of the Small Industries Directorate. But in Barkhan district there are not any carpet or embroidery training centres.

The industrial and manufacturing sector is almost non-existent. The reasons are lack of infrastructure, illiteracy and lack of potential areas for investment. Lack of market and raw material is another obstacle for industrialisation. Most jobs and ways of livelihood are provided in the agriculture and livestock sectors. With the mechanisation of agriculture and further development of cottage industries, the fate of the people in the district could be changed.

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