By Arooj Zulfiqar

ISLAMABAD, July 21: Pakistan has an ideal environment for olive cultivation and bringing more area under cultivation can help the country cut dependency on oil imports and shore up the foreign exchange reserves. Currently, the import bill eats up a sizable chunk of the hard-earned reserves.

Talking to WealthPK, Zubair Ikram, Scientific Officer at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), said, “Huge efforts are being made for olive cultivation in Pakistan. If we continue to work like this, in the coming years we can become self-sufficient in olive oil production. This will help us cut our import bill and increase the foreign exchange reserves.”

“In Pakistan, research on olive cultivation began in mid-1980s, but no one paid much attention to this industry until the past five years. During this period, its output has been pretty good. About 40,000 hectares with more than 40 million plants are under olive cultivation in Pakistan,” Zubair said.

“We are cultivating olives all over the country, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Potohar region. Potohar region has been declared as the olive valley, which will boost olive production and help save millions of dollars spent on importing oil. It is also grown in Balochistan, including the areas of Zhob, Khuzdar, Quetta, DG khan, and Rakhni. This year, we are doing the trials in Sindh at the official level,” he added.

“Pakistan became the 64^th largest pure olive oil importer in the world in 2020, bringing in $5.81M worth of oil. Pure olive oil was Pakistan's 543rd most-imported item that year. Spain ($4.21M), Turkey ($710K), Tunisia ($431K), Italy ($274K), and the United Arab Emirates ($140K) are the main countries from which Pakistan buys pure olive oil”.

Zubair said “Till now, the NARC is cultivating eight varieties of olive, while the Olive Centre of Barani Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) has introduced around 25 varieties.’’

“Olive trees are quite drought-resistant. They thrive in dry arid regions with rocky soils that are more challenging for other crops, but still, they require water. However, they don't need as much water as some other crops do; in the winter, water is needed every 5 to 6 days, and in the summer, every 4 to 5 days,” he said.

“We are utilizing the drip irrigation system for olive production, which the government initially provided free of cost but currently it is being provided with 30% subsidy,” he said.

‘’As for land requirements, there is no need to level the land because it is a tough and resilient plant and every hilly terrain is suitable to its cultivation. If we keep working in this manner, we will be able to meet almost 40 to 60 percent of our local demand in about 5 to 7 years, which will lower our reliance on imports and save the foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan has the potential to be a world leader in olive production,” Zubair added.

Credits: INP-WealthPk