Staff Reporter Rawalpindi
The International Olive Council has formally recognized Pakistan as a member of the Council. The council will provide support at all levels.
The Council will play a role in introducing Pakistan’s olive oil and its products internationally and will help in exporting olive oil.
These views were expressed by Abdul Latif Ghadira, Executive Director, International Olive Council, while presiding over a high-level meeting on the occasion of his visit to Barani Agricultural Research Institute.
There is a huge potential to increase the production of olives in Pakistan. At present, Government of Pakistan is running several projects for the development of olives, due to which in the future Pakistan will not only be self-sufficient in olive production but will also be able to export olives.
Abdul Latif Ghadira lauded the steps taken for cultivation and added that the Center of Excellence for Olive Research and Training at this institute would be linked with the International Olive Council to assist in modern technology.
As many as 1.5 million olive saplings have been provided to farmers in Pothwar region on subsidy basis and olives have been planted on 11,000 acres in Pothwar under one scheme. Under the same project, modern drip irrigation system was also installed at 70% subsidy to solve the problems of olive irrigation.