Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) Provincial Director Mushtaq Ahmad, Project Director Mian Javed-ur-Rehman, Senior Research Officer Azmat Ali Awan, SMEDA Provincial Chief Bakhtiar Khan and other related officials were also present.
The minister said there is great potential in the olive plant and we can produce enough olive oil to cater our domestic needs, however, she underlined the need to work even harder and facilitate the private sector in this regard. The minister expressed that government alone could not accomplish this task without active participation of the private sector.
The minister said that provincial government believes in public-private partnership and all possible efforts should be made to involve private sector to promote olive cultivation. She further said that our farmers are very hardworking and we should aware them of modern scientific techniques to cultivate of olive.
Provincial Director (PODB) Mushtaq Ahmad briefed the Minister and said that suitable areas for olive cultivation are Swat, Dir, Abbottabad, Hangu, Mardan and Malakand where this cultivation could be increased .
The minister further said that by providing quality seed, modern training and providing marketing mechanism to the farmers, we could achieve our goal of promoting olive cultivation.
The minister directed the PODB official to submit a brief report about olive production so that local and foreign investors could be attracted to invest in this cash crop. Later the end Minister visited different section of (PODB) and planted a sapling of olive in the premises of the Research Centre.