ISLAMABAD: In a major milestone for Pakistan’s agriculture sector, commercial olive cultivation has spread across the country on a massive scale, with Balochistan emerging as the leading province.
According to official documents, a total of 7.6 million (76 lakh 37 thousand) olive plants have been planted over 60,456 acres across 131 districts of Pakistan to promote olive cultivation on a commercial basis.
The olive orchards have now spread to Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, Sindh, Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. In 31 districts of the province, 3.1 million (31 lakh 99 thousand 393) olive plants have been planted over 24,620 acres, which is the highest among all regions.
Punjab is in second place with 2.2 million (22 lakh 35 thousand 962) plants cultivated over 17,000 acres in 31 districts. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stands third with 1.6 million (16 lakh 56 thousand 499) plants planted over 14,690 acres in 32 districts.
Other regions include Azad Kashmir with 205,929 plants, Sindh with 129,384, Islamabad with 117,958, and Gilgit-Baltistan with 92,296 plants. Data from 2012 to 2026 show that the government’s development program has the most prominent share in the overall plantation, under which 5,029,010 plants were planted over 37,854 acres.
In addition, 580,158 plants were planted under PADSA, 1,320,116 under the Olive Valley project, 590,000 under the 5 Million Olive Program, 80,637 under the olive expansion project, and 37,500 plants were planted by the private sector.
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