Swat Is Environment Friendly For Olive, Says VC Swat University Prof. Dr. Muhammad Jamal

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2018 ) :Vice Chancellor University of Swat Professor Dr. Muhammad Jamal Khan has termed the environment of Swat as friendly for the Olive growers and urged upon the farmer to get due advantage to plant more and olive, known by the botanical name Olea europaea, meaning "European olive.

Olives are one of the most extensively cultivated fruit crops in the world. In 2011, about 9.6 million hectares (24 million acres) were planted with olive, he said.

He said Swat is also called as home of Olive due to its pleasant environment and clean water. He also extended all out support to the farmers on behalf of the University of Swat Olive plantation drive.

AC Char Bagh Zohaib Hayat, Director Central for Science and Biodiversity Dr. Hassan Sher, Jan Muhammad of Agri Deptt KP were also present. Dr. Jamal said that Swat become home of olive as hundreds of thousands wild olive plants have been converted into original ones during the last one decade.

Under a seven-year project of Pakistan Oilseed Development board (POBD), initiated in 2001, more than 0.6 million wild olive plants were converted into original European type in Swat, said Jan Muhammad, hailing from Agriculture Department KP.

He disclosed that Swat University has developed Olive Processing Unit with the aim to promote cultivation of Olive in Swat which badly suffered due to militancy and insurgency in the past.

Professor Dr. Jamal Khan informed that they have provided a plat form for the Olive growers and farmers so that they could be able to earn more while planting Olive.

He said KP has great potential as far as plantation of Olive is concerned. He said edible oil was Pakistan's largest food import commodity list after petroleum and its products.

He said that olive was one of the major contributor plants that could fulfill the requirement of the entire country in edible oil sector. He disclosed that olive gardens had been set up on more than 600 acres in different areas of Swat.

Olive cultivation was initiated in 1980's in Swat, Waziristan and Mansehra under a small Italian-funded project. The orchards set up under the said project could not survive owing to lack of proper management practices, awareness and marketing. He said that Swat was the most suitable place for olive cultivation. Wild olive plants were present at large scale from Malakand top to Bahrain, he added.

He said that the weather was major factor for proper growth of medicinal plants. Due to its favourable weather Swat was considered the most important area in agriculture sector, he added.

Prof. Dr. Jamal said that National Olive Research Development Unit was set up at University of Swat to conduct and facilitate research in the relevant field and initiate work for converting wild olive into original European and Spanish types.

Ashfaq Khan, a farmer from Charbagh area, said that he had converted more than 1000 wild olive plants into original ones. He added that owing to lack of open market for olive, the farmers could not get due return. He said that most of the farmers in Swat were compelled to use olive in pickle.

Olive was introduced first time in Pakistan by PARC during 1986 under an Italian Project titled "Fruit, Vegetable and olive Project" funded by Government of Italy. After this project a general survey was conducted to estimate the number of naturally occurred wild olive specie "Olea Cuspidata" and found more than 80 Million wild Olive plants in different district of Pakistan. Under another olive project of Federal government 5.5 million olive plants were top worked but less than 1% plants survived in the result of top working because of management of top worked plants.

Human life is impossible without agriculture; industrially advanced areas depend on it indirectly while the rural settlement is directly benefited with this profession. So far as Swat concerns, about 99% of the population are cultivators. With the exception of a few, all the landowners have small tracks of land. These holdings are so small that the holders are not only landlords but they are peasants too.

The ever increasing demands for daily life compelled the poor peasants to get more and more yields of the tiny tracts of soil. So they use various techniques and chemical fertilizers with the addition of cattle dung in large scale.

Lower and Upper Dir soil and climate is also highly-favorable for the olive tree as Lower and Upper Dir is home to millions of wild olive trees which bear no fruit and are thus extensively used for fuel. Agriculturists believe converting the wild trees into fruit-bearing ones can radically change the lives of locals and generate significant revenue for the country.

With this aim, the four-year Program for Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE), funded by the European Union and implemented by the Sarhad Rural Support Program, was launched in way back 2013 in all districts of Malakand Division including Swat, Shangla, Buner, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Chitral and Malakand Agency.

Under the project, local farmers were trained in converting wild olive trees into fruit-bearing ones, proper fruit processing and strategies to make their olive businesses profitable.

To date, the project has benefited hundreds of people. Local farmers say they were aware of the benefits of olives, but did not know the proper method of converting wild trees into productive ones and ways of processing the fruit.