Governor Shah Farman seeks land data for olive, Sidr plantation

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman on Monday directed the forest and agriculture departments to submit district-level statistics of barren land suitable for olive and Sidr plantation (Beri honey source) within 10 days.

He said this while presiding over a meeting to review progress on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiative of Olive plantation and Billion Honey Tree in the province, said an official handout.

Secretary Agriculture Muhammad Israr, Secretary Forest Shahidullah Khan, Director General Agriculture Extension Abid Kamal, South Waziristan Deputy Commissioner Khalid Khattak and other relevant officers attended the meeting.

The governor directed both the departments to visit government and private nurseries to ascertain the number of the olive nursery and the required olive sapling and grafting for plantation drive in the province, including merged districts.

The governor stressed the need for encouraging the public interest and said according to an estimate 260 million olive plants could be grown in the province as available land in province was very fertile for growing olive and Sidr trees.

He said he was keen on developing public interest for economic prosperity besides generating new livelihood opportunities for poor and needy people of the province through olive and Sidr tree plantation.