The federal government has launched a plan to train 2800 farmers and workers through 47 different programmes for early completion over 1.2 million olive sapling plantation across the country.
The initiative has been taken in a bid to strengthen efforts to enhance production of domestic edible oil and reducing reliance on the imported commodity, sources in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MFSR) told media on Saturday.
Olive plantation is being carried out over 8,900 acres across the country, besides conducting a campaign on wild olive grafting across four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to attain oil for local consumption, added the sources. Dr. Hassan Tariq, National Project Director Olive Cultivation Programme, told APP that the government was striving to bring specific regions in the country under olive cultivation and earlier, over 5 million sapling have been planted across the country. “We have a large area of land suitable for growing olive trees, and Pakistan has been producing olive oil since 2010 with the help of countries such as Spain and Italy.
Currently, we are producing around 1,500 tons of olive oil and 830 tons of table olives per year, all of which are consumed domestically,” he added. Olive Project Manager Khaity Technologies Pakistan Azeem Tariq told APP that with the cooperation of all stakeholders, the government had launched a massive drive to complete plantation of over 1.2 million olive saplings, which has been started since last spring tree plantation season, and is continuing across country.
The drive would help strengthen efforts to produce edible oil to meet needs for domestic consumption, he added while replying to a query. Barani Agriculture Research Institutes Senior Agricultural Scientist and Farm Manager Dr Azhar said that the government had devised a five-year plan to turn the Potohar region into an Olive Valley.
Under the project, the federal government would provide 200,000 free olive plants to selected farmers in Attock, Chakwal, Khushab, Jhelum, and other districts, he added.
