Peshawar - As the government embarks on agricultural transformation shifting to corporate from traditional farming, peasants are embracing novel technologies and techniques to enhance cash crops productivity for attaining food sufficiency and economic stability. This voyage to economic resilience, like other parts of the country, can also be seen in merged districts of erstwhile FATA, where in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, farmers opted for olive grafting to locally enhance olive oil production.
Taking advantage of land and climate suitability in Malakand division, farmers like Barkat Shah have started uncovering the potential for significant financial gains from their limited mountainous land. His five-acre lush green olive grove on Mohmand-Bajaur road not only presents an eye-catching view but also makes him confident of earning sufficient dividends for his family. “Bajaur’s climate and soil conditions are ideal for wild olive grafting,” Barkat Shah said. “Response from farmers is overwhelmingly positive due to the grafting technique’s cost-effectiveness and high oil-yielding efficiency.”
Known locally as ‘Ustad’ for his expertise in olive grafting, Haji Barkat reveals that the process involves a precise and skilled technique where a scion—a young, healthy olive variety—is joined to a robust rootstock, typically an older olive tree resilient to diseases. “This method enhances the health and productivity of olive trees and ensures farmers maximize gains from their land,” he said. “We select a scion at the growth stage, cut the scion and rootstock carefully for a snug fit, and bind them together securely.” This careful union leads to the formation of a strong new branch, capable of yielding high-quality olives in just four to five years. “The optimal period for grafting is from February to April and July to September.”
As the region provides a suitable land environment, Ziaul Islam Dawar, Director of Agriculture Extension, appreciates the people’s response in Malakand towards olive grafting. “Growers are becoming aware of this farming and starting to use the best quality olive varieties,” he informed. “A good quality scion can easily be grafted onto a rootstock of rare variety to prepare a high-yielding and disease-resistant olive tree in a few years.” He stated that by grafting these rare varieties, farmers can ensure better productivity for a longer period. “Besides their personal food and nutritional needs, olive also helps them earn a living for their families and reduce the import burden on the national kitty.” “What they need to ensure is to graft properly to avoid unproductive trees and financial losses,” he advised.
Ahmad Said, former Project Director of the Promotion of Olive Trees Cultivation on Commercial Scale, informed that the entire Malakand division, including Bajaur and Dir, along with other merged areas like South Waziristan, Orakzai, and Khyber, are also suitable for olive grafting. He said around 4.4 million hectares of land in Pakistan’s KP, Punjab, and Balochistan provinces is suitable for olive cultivation, but we still import 75 percent of edible oil. “On the other hand, Spain, having 2.6 million hectares of olive cultivation land, exports 45 percent of the world’s total edible oil exports.”
According to Ahmad, around 70 million wild olive plants are suitable for grafting in KP, including 11 million in Bajaur district. Grafting of 400,000 wild olive trees has been completed, with earlier grafted trees at 400 acres in Bajaur already producing fruit. He said normally one kilogram of olive fruit produces 200 milliliters of oil, and from 100 kilograms, 17 to 20 liters of oil can be extracted, with one liter of extra virgin olive oil priced at Rs2200 to Rs2500. “One tree can return a farmer Rs15,400 to Rs20,000 income per year while olive fruits can also be sold for Rs120 per kilogram easily in the local market.”
The rising interest in olive grafting is significant in light of our economic challenges, while its enhanced local production could offer a sustainable solution to meet domestic demand. Under the KP government’s olive promotion project, grafting of over 250,000 wild olive trees has been carried out in the province, while olive orchards on 150 acres have successfully been raised in Bajaur. Meanwhile, the federal government also launched the Promotion of Olive Trees Cultivation on Commercial Scale (POTCCS) project worth Rs 3.82 billion. Under this project, around 6.5 million wild olive plants were naturally raised in thickly olive-covered mountains and plains areas of KPK, Punjab, and Balochistan provinces.
Similarly, more land in the country is being brought under olive cultivation, as approximately 1.3 million olive plants and orchards on 14,000 acres of land will be raised in areas of KPK and the Pothohar region of Punjab province. The Punjab government has declared Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Jhelum, Attock, and Khushab districts as Olive Valleys, and there is an urgent need to facilitate farmers in these areas to fully benefit from this initiative. In a situation where Pakistan is struggling to steer out of economic turmoil, measures to promote corporate farming, especially in areas where precious foreign exchange is spent on imports, are urgently required. Such initiatives would not only have positive effects on our economy but also pave the way for farmers to enhance their earnings, flourish the country economically, and achieve the goal of food security.