How can I be an effective writer, writing about people's lives and their living standards, especially those living in rural areas that are so attached to cultures and traditions?

It’s an observation game. First, you need to say what you see. Get yourself over to those rural areas and take a look at what’s going on. What are these people wearing? What can you hear? What can you smell? Make some notes and have a guess what they’re up to. If you want to be effective, then you need to take the time to get real and get as close to them as possible. Perhaps you can take some pictures off-hand from a distance or film and record them without making the feel too comfortable. Try to pop into the local trading post or community gathering and talk to these people, sample the local produce and become their friend. Then they’ll be more than happy to talk to you about their lives. They may even let you help them out for a while to let you experience their problems first-hand. It’s all about spending some time there to do some research. Or if you’re lucky enough, you may be able to look them up on Google Street View I suppose.