By Omer Bilal ISLAMABAD, April 08, (INP-WealthPK): The Board of Investment (BOI) in collaboration with the Punjab Agriculture Department is going to set up state-of-the-art olive oil extraction units in Chakwal district of Punjab province. The project will be completed in three years, and the estimated cost for the construction of the unit will be Rs530.205 million. The BOI is seeking applications for the project on the basis of public private partnership (PPP) whereas preferred mode of investment may also be private equity. A BOI official informed WealthPK that the demand for olive oil is increasing day by day due to increase in commercial purposes (exports of olive and its by-product) as well as eating habits of the people of Pakistan. Local production does not meet the demand which indicates a huge potential for growing olive trees. The official said that currently in Pakistan about six to eight olive oil extraction units having capacity to process 750 to 1,000kg of olive fruit per hour are operational which cannot meet the local demand for olive oil. An average, 500,000 to 600,000 olive plants per annum are being cultivated by the government. Dr. Muhammad Ejaz, Plant Pathologist at Barani Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), informed WealthPK that it is estimated that in next 10 years, BARI, with the help of the Government of Punjab, will plant 3.16 million trees in Potohar region covering 23,400 acres land, that will produce 21,000 tons of olive fruit which will be available in the market for further processing. Talking about the project, he said that the long-term objective of the project is to produce olive oil for export while creating a sustainable olive oil economy which will also benefit the rural communities of the region. Pakistan presently produces 34% of the edible oils which is consumed domestically, and is forced to spend significant foreign exchange on the import of the commodity to meet domestic demand. Mazhar Iqbal, an agronomist at BARI, said there are seven indigenous varieties of olive. However, he said, the standardisation of nursery production techniques i.e., through cutting, aerial layering and grafting techniques, may increase the production. He added that establishment of Olive Research Centre (ORC) for further research and development programmes and plantation of olive orchards on 5000-acre land under the project “Developing Potohar into an Olive Valley” are in the pipeline. The federal government had chalked out a five-year plan to make the Potohar Region an Olive Valley. Under the project, the government would provide 200,000 free olive plants to selected farmers in Chakwal, Jhelum, Khushab and other districts. On the other hand, the Punjab government has given a 70% subsidy on watering and cultivation of olive plants, whereas a 60% subsidy has also been given on the installation of drip irrigation systems.