PARC to organise national seminar on olive culture

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Pakistan Agriculture Research Council would organise a ‘National Olive Culture Seminar’, to encourage and promote olive cultivation across the potential areas of the country to enhance domestic edible oil production, besides reducing reliance on the imported commodity.

The seminar would be organised under National Olive Cultivation Program in collaboration with international donor agencies, development partners, and local industries involved in olive production and its value addition, said Dr Hassan Tariq, National Project Director Olive Cultivation Program.

Talking to APP on Thursday, he said that the event would be attended by olive experts, and research scientists from different countries, including Spain and Italy, and share their knowledge and experiences for the promotion of olive cultivation in the country.

Besides, a large number of local farmers, representatives of the industrial sector, research scientists, academia, and representatives of provincial agriculture extension would also attend the seminar and share inputs for the development of olive culture in the country, he added.

Meanwhile, he said that the government has set a target to impart training to over 2,800 olive farmers and stakeholders during the tree plantation campaign for the current season for encouraging and developing olive farming in potential areas across the country.

During the current spring tree plantation drive, about 47 training programs would also be organised in different areas to introduce farmers to international best practices for olive cultivation, farm management, and productivity enhancement, he added.

Besides, the farmers would be trained on orchard management, and value addition of the olive to enhance their farm income, while they would also be introduced to the latest marketing techniques, labeling, and branding, he added.

Dr Tariq further informed that over 1.2 million olive plants will be planted during the current spring tree plantation campaign across the country for strengthening the national efforts to enhance the output of domestic edible oil for reducing reliance on the imported commodity and saving much-needed foreign exchange.

In this regard, the olive plantation would be carried out over 8,900 acres across the country, besides the launch of a campaign on wild olive grafting across the four provinces, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to attain oil for local consumption, he added.

So far, he said that olive plantations had been completed over 40,400 acres, and about 8,900 acres of land would be brought under the olive plantation during the current spring plantation campaign, which will help to expand the area under olive production.