ISLAMABAD: The Balochistan government has planted around 0.6 million olive trees in the province so far to promote low water-consuming farming, aimed to fight water scarcity in the province.
The Balochistan Agriculture department was promoting low water consuming project and planted olive trees which was made possible the production of thousands of gallons of olive oil, an official of Balochistan government said.
The official said, “it will also provide farmers an alternative crop which will help in bringing prosperity to the backward areas.”
He added that most of the saplings of olive trees were being imported from Spain and awarded to the farmers free of cost for their economic development.
The province is working to produce the saplings of olive trees in its own nurseries. For extraction of olive oil, plants were being established in various cities of the province.
The official said that the agriculture department had started training programmes for farmers and landowners of the province on modern farming methods.
He said, “Cultivation of the olive plants were done on thousands of acres to resist climate change issue besides introducing a good source of income for the poor farmers of the province.
He said that it was a top priority of BARI to make barren land cultivable for the promotion of livestock and agriculture sector in the province.
He further said that this new initiative would help generate revenue for the province, besides bringing large areas of barren land under cultivation.
The local farmers, appreciating the plant distribution process, said such initiatives were imperative to alleviate unemployment in the province, besides ensuring involvement of lower middle class in the country development.
Balochistan Agriculture Department has brought 69, 670 acres of barren land under cultivation to ensure food security by increasing agri production
The government has distributed High yielding seeds of wheat, rice, oil seed, sunflower and sesame among the farmers on subsidized rate to improve the production quality and cultivate new variety of seeds.
He said that the government has installed as many as 246 green tunnels aimed at enhancing the production of offseason vegetables and fruits production in the province through tunnel farming.
Balochistan government had also constructed 878 Water Courses and 361 Water Storage Tanks to resolve water issues in agriculture sector.
He said that the government was striving to convert the tub-wells on solar energy and had solarized 162 farm Ponds in the province.
“In order to promote modern farming in the province, 150 green tunnel farms have been connected to solar energy to increase the agricultural production, ” he added.
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