Sindh to cultivate oil palm trees on 1,000 acres

The Sindh government has decided to launch the second project of oil palm cultivation on 1,000 acres in the province in Thatta district.

The decision to this effect was reached at the 17th meeting of the governing body of the Sindh Coastal Development Authority (CDA) held on Thursday with Sindh Environment and Coastal Development Minister Ismail Rahoo in chair.

The participants of the meeting were briefed about the ongoing and new projects of the authority by its director general and other officials. Rahoo told the meeting that a sum of Rs356 million would be spent on the second project of oil palm cultivation in the province.

He added that 60,000 oil palm trees would be planted on 1,000 acres during the ongoing year. Upon the completion of the project, the Sindh government expects that 40 kilogrammes of oil would be extracted from each tree.

The CDA chief informed the meeting that the Sindh forest department had been asked to provide 3,000 acres of land for launching such projects and 2,000 acres land out of that had been provided for the purpose.

The meeting decided that grade 19 and grade 20 officers of the CDA would be provided with the opportunity of attending mid-career management course. The environment minister said the coastal belt of Sindh was being ruined due to the river water shortage. He added that owing to the lack of water in the Indus River due to unjust distribution by the Indus River System Authority, seawater had intruded on thousands of acres of coastal land of Thatta and Badin.