Potohar region to be transformed into olive valley

LAHORE : The Punjab government has initiated a plan to plant new olive groves on an additional 5,000 acres in the Potohar region, besides importing 10 modern oil extraction plants and providing them to farmers and service providers.

These instructions were given by Secretary Agriculture, Punjab, Nadir Chattha while presiding over a meeting held here on Friday regarding the increase in cultivated area and production of olives.

On the occasion, Secretary Agriculture Nadir Chattha said that practical steps were being taken to transform the Potohar region into an olive valley in a true sense. A plan is being prepared for olive cultivation on another 5,000 acres in the Potohar region. Apart from this, a plan to provide 10 modern extraction plants for olive oil extraction is under consideration. He further said that 300kg of oil extraction within hour would be done by these plants. It will have the capacity to distill oil per gram per hour and with the use of modern oil extraction plants, oil of high quality and according to international standards will be obtained. By importing modern extraction plants, the farmers of Potohar Oil Development Zone will be able to get full benefit. In the meeting, secretary agriculture assigned the task to the relevant formations to conduct a complete survey of olive groves in Potohar region. On this occasion, while briefing the Secretary Agriculture, it was told that a complete survey of the total olive plants in the field was being conducted. As a result of the survey, information about the average age of the plants and the average yield per plant will be available and the gardeners will be able to get information about the olives. Healthy and good-sized plants will be provided. Healthy nursery plants will perform well in the field. Plants in the nursery will be certified by the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department. Additional Secretary Agriculture (Planning) Captain (Retd) Waqas Rashid, DG Agriculture (Extension) Dr Ishtiaq Hasan, DG Agriculture (Crop Reporting) Dr Abdul Qayyum and Director Agricultural Information, Punjab, Naveed Asmat Kahloon and other senior officers participated in the meeting.