Green Gold: Olive Farming Offers New Economic Horizons in Balochistan

Tahira Adam Khan

Loralai, Balochistan: “I used to have an apple orchard, which is no longer viable given the region’s water constraints. Now, I am cultivating over 200 olive plants, which is a great source of comfort for me and other small farmers because it does not require as much water as Toor Kala and Gaja apples do. I can produce enough revenue from the cultivation with careful selection and packing,” says Abdul Samad.

Samad, a small farmer in Balochistan’s Loralai district, has shifted from Toor Kola and Gaja Apple crops to Olive Green. He has planted over 200 olive trees in the last three years. There are many other small farmers who have shifted from apple and almond cultivation to olive plantations as a result of the success of olive nurseries in the region.

Ahsan Ullah, a farmer of village Kenobi, says he has also abandoned almond farming and cultivated 500 olive trees. Muhammad Hamzazai also withdrew 600 almond plants and changed his concentration to the olive nurseries.

According to the farmers, Habibullah Kakar, Deputy Director of Agriculture Research and Development, deserves credit for accepting and overcoming our problems. For them, Kakar has demonstrated how to stay optimistic while generating revenue from mountainous and harsh terrain. One of the residents of Loralai, Abdul Kareem*, cultivated an olive nursery in 2021, comprising 12,000 plants in Loralai. The nursery became a success story and helped the farmer earn $36,000 in revenue in 2023.

Kakar is highly regarded by Loralai small farmers for his efforts in launching the project. He has been working on one of the federal projects in partnership with the Agriculture Research Institute (ARI), Quetta, since 2007, and has cultivated roughly 600,000 million olive trees in the province, primarily in the Loralai and Zhob divisions.

Habibullah Kakar said he is also collaborating both with governmental and non-governmental organisations to work on olive nurseries. He has provided 100,000 olive plants to non-governmental organisations.

These nurseries were cultivated in many parts of Balochistan, including Qilla Saifullah, Sherani, Barkhan, and Loralai. In 2023, he collaborated with the Tareeqe Foundation and UNHCR to grow 18,000 olive plants, 9,000 in Katvi camp, and the remaining 9,000 in Loralai’s Ghazi camp.

In that spirit, he has used his project to assist farmers by distributing grafted Italian varieties. In 2023, he indicated that the overall demand for olive cultivation in Loralai is 200,000 plants, and he has met half of that demand.

It is worth noting that each olive plant costs 93 rupees, according to the farmers’ share formula, which is cost-effective given farmers’ economic conditions.

Back in 2007, he recalled that locals used to laugh at his project. “Da saspareedrakti di” means “these trees are rough and dry” in Pashto. Owing to the logic that dry trees do not provide cash for the region, the locals refused to cooperate, Kaker recalled. Then locals gradually started realising the benefits of olive growing and vegan investing in the enterprise. He said that Loralai has more than enough potential for olive farming, but the initiative lacks a commercial foundation.

The agriculture expert said Ziarat, the Asghara area near Sanjwawi, and Khuzdar are also suitable districts for cultivation.

It is pertinent to note that the area of the olive cultivation is determined by the distance between the trees. Accordingly, one acre of land may support either 108 (20×20) or 134 (18×18) olive plants, he explained. Furthermore, he stated that an olive plantation is appropriate for the location because it requires less water.

During the past years, all of his nurseries were irrigated by rainwater, and he did not need to find another solution. He also mentioned various olive plantations in the areas of Zhob, Sherani, and Musakhail that are helping the people improve their socio-economic status.

According to Abdul Raof Khan, Chief Scientific Officer, Agriculture Research Institute, Sariab, Loralai has 26,368 olive plants spread across 244 acres under the Federal PSDP Project” from 2012 to 2015.

He stated that between 2015 and 2022, the number of olives in the district climbed to 175,903, with 272 farmers participating in the initiative dubbed “Promotion of Olive Cultivation on Commercial Scale in Pakistan.”

Raof Khan said that Loralai has two controlled tunnels (70*40) for the olive crops, as well as three double shades. Overall, Balochistan has 4954,574 olive trees spread across 40,450 acres of land. In the same vein, he mentioned that the province generated 134,533 litres of olive oil worth $336, $332–$500 between 2011 and 2023.

Historically, he said that the Italian government established the first two orchards of olive plants in Balochistan in Loralai and Khuzdar in 1988. The province now boasts billions of olive plants, primarily in Harnai, Musakhail, Sherani, and Barkhan.Optimal Growing Condition for Olive cultivation

Wajia Noor, PhD, Scholar of Botany at QAU, said that in Pakistan, olive trees are mainly produced in the Potohar and sub-tropical regions. Loralai is located in the sub-tropical region, where the environment is conducive to the cultivation of olive trees. She said olive varieties are determined using seed and grafting techniques. For better outcomes, the grafting process must be ensured, as seedlings alone provide low-quality fruit.

For Shamsullah Durrani, project head of Green Balochistan, the primary objective of olive plantations is oil production. Because of their bitter taste, untreated olive seeds cannot be consumed. However, processed fruit is edible, whether green or ripe. The height of the tree can range from 10 to 40 feet or more.

The tree is densely packed with many branches made of good-quality wood that resists the decaying process for an extended period of time.

Its leaves are dark green on one side and silvery on the other. In addition, if the tree’s upper side dies, a new stem grows from its roots, preventing the tree from dying under any circumstances.

Bashir Kakar, an agriculture expert in Loralai, explained that in the spring season, olive flowers bloom in whitish clusters. It also has two kinds of blooms. In certain circumstances, the flower has both male and female parts, whereas in others, only the male part is present.

Loralai is classified as being in extreme poverty zone 2 by the Balochistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, with a poor population ratio of 68–49 percent. Olive cultivation nurseries play a pivotal role in ensuring employment opportunities and generating revenue for farmers in this environment. According to Habibullah Kakar, Loralai has over 200,000 nurseries that would generate revenue and employment prospects for natives as well as the agricultural sector.

A Dive into Olive Extraction

In the context of oil, Mateen Khan, Director of Agriculture Qilla Saifullah, claimed that the extraction machine is available in Loralai and costs eight crores. Last year, the machine extracted 70,000 litres of olive oil from Loralai district alone.

In the absence of the equipment, the locals used to extract oil from other smaller machines that required four hours to crush fruits. The new extraction machine can now smash 600kg of fruits in an hour. It is important to note that one litre of oil is worth 2,500 rupees, and this year’s oil extraction is expected to exceed last year’s quota of 200,000 litres.

However, the extraction of oil is dependent on the type of oil. Loralai currently has 18 varieties of fruits imported from Turkey, Spain, and Italy, he added. Unlocking potential amidst challenges

Varietal selection is one of the practical issues that olive growers encounter. Farmers in Balochistan are uneducated and lack the technical expertise to choose the best olive fruit for their land while keeping the soil’s thermal sensitivity index in mind.

Furthermore, farmers frequently complain of low yields, which might be enhanced by cultivating grafted breeds.

According to Roaf Khan, the facilities are insufficient for adequate oil extraction. Currently, the existing units can only extract Extra Virgin Oil (EVOO). The same material is crushed to produce virgin olive Olive Oil (VOO), and the VOO material is then processed to obtain pomace olive oil.

At the moment, the existing facilities are unable to manufacture VOO and pomace olive oil. Meanwhile, the province also lacks a district-level destining mechanism.

Farmers are having difficulty selecting when and how to harvest olive plants. Olive seedlings are planted in February, but they are harvested after four years, which is a time-consuming process for farmers, Khan explained.

Following harvest, the olive oil extracted from crushed fruits is put into stainless steel canes and then into labelled bottles. Farmers, however, pluck olive fruits coarsely and put them in sugar bags due to a lack of awareness. This eventually leads to the spread of fungus and harms the fruit.

Khan also mentioned that the federal and provincial PSDP, along with the Italian government, have engaged farmers to provide technical expertise for the purpose.

Farmers have a poor track record when it comes to marketing their products on social media sites. Many farmers have yet to register their olive oil products and do not have brands.

The successful experiment with olive cultivation is a great achievement, but challenges are there too. If farmers in Balochistan are properly trained and educated in grafting and other related skills, they may not only make olive a sustainable source of revenue for themselves but also an alternative crop that can provide revenue for the national exchequer if cultivated on scientific grounds.

For this, the central and provincial governments will have to take strong action to accomplish this, because the issue is not just the survival of local farmers but building resilience against food insecurity and climate change implications.

Tahira Adam Khan is a Loralai-based freelance journalist.

Edited by Shazia Mehboob