A plan has been prepared to promote cultivation of olive in the country and Azad Kashmir. Official sources told Business Recorder on Saturday that overall demand of olive oil was 1.9 million tons, of which 1.3 million tons was being imported from different countries to cater to the domestic requirements, costing Rs 28 billion annually.
Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) had focused special attention on the promotion of olive cultivation and necessary information and guidance was being extended to olive growers in Balochistan. Olive model farms were playing instrumental role in cultivation of olive crop in various parts and a large number of cultivators showing their keen interest in olive crop in the province, sources said.
In Punjab, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Attock, Chakwal and Khushab districts were the potential areas for olive cultivation. Olive orchard cultivation throughout these potential areas of Punjab could produce much quantity of oil, which may certainly bring Pakistan's olive oil import share to zero resultantly enabling its exports to mount. There was a vast potential for olive cultivation in Pakistan which can be adopted by two different ways like new plantation and grafting the available wild varieties.
According to the research conducted by Barani Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Chakwal, the prevailing environment, minimum/ maximum temperature, soil types, average rainfall and other related growth factors in Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Attock, Chakwal and Khushab areas are exactly according to olive cultivation requirements.
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