Pakistani Government to promote olive cultivation
For more than a decade Pakistan has pinned real hope on the olive: a drought-tough tree that might green its dry northern plateau and shave billions off an edible-oil import bill. The ambition is genuine. So are the obstacles.
The idea is simple and keeps returning because it makes sense. Pakistan spends an enormous sum every year importing edible oil — palm oil above all — while large stretches of its northern barani (rain-fed) land sit under-used, dry, and warm enough to suit the olive. Plant olives there, the reasoning goes, and you turn a liability into a crop: local oil, rural jobs, and a smaller bill at the port. The focus has settled on the Potohar plateau — Chakwal, Attock, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Khushab — hill country that a national research institute long ago flagged as suitable.
Why the olive fits the land
The olive earns its place here for the same reason it clothes the dry hills of Spain and Greece: it asks little and endures much. It tolerates thin, stony soil and long dry spells, and it can be grafted onto the wild olive (Olea) that already grows across the Pakistani hills — a shortcut that skips years of raising imported saplings. On rain-fed ground that struggles to carry a thirsty crop, a tree that fruits on modest water is not a romantic idea but a practical one.
The import-bill logic
Pakistan imports the great majority of the cooking oil it uses, and the outlay runs into billions of dollars a year — a real drain on foreign reserves. Domestic olive oil will not close that gap; the numbers are simply too large and olive oil is a premium product, not a bulk frying oil. But it can carve out a high-value niche, keep money onshore, and give hill farmers a cash crop with a long productive life. Framed honestly — import substitution at the margin, not self-sufficiency — the case holds up.
What still stands in the way
Enthusiasm has always run ahead of tonnage. Young trees take years to crop; milling, grading and marketing a quality oil is a craft that a new industry has to learn from scratch; and a country with no olive-eating tradition has to build a home market at the same time as an export one. Pakistan joining the International Olive Council was a signal of seriousness, and plantings have climbed into the thousands of hectares. The tree is willing. Whether the industry around it matures is the open question — and it will be answered in oil quality, not in press releases.
| Where | Potohar plateau, northern Punjab |
|---|---|
| Key districts | Chakwal, Attock, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Khushab |
| Land type | Rain-fed (barani), thin and dry |
| Method | Imported saplings & grafting onto wild olive |
| Driver | Cutting a multi-billion-dollar edible-oil import bill |
| Status | IOC member; plantings expanding, output still small |
What to take from it
- The plan is import substitution at the margin, not oil self-sufficiency — judge it on that scale.
- The olive suits the land because it is drought-hardy and can be grafted onto native wild stock.
- The real test is quality and milling, not acreage planted.
- A young industry must build a home market for olive oil alongside any export hopes.
Pakistan’s olive push: common questions
Why does Pakistan want to grow olives?
To turn under-used, rain-fed northern land into a high-value crop and shave money off a very large annual edible-oil import bill, while creating rural jobs.
Where are the olives being planted?
Mainly on the Potohar plateau in northern Punjab — districts such as Chakwal, Attock, Jhelum, Rawalpindi and Khushab — hill country suited to a drought-tolerant tree.
Can olive oil really replace Pakistan’s oil imports?
No. The country imports oil on a scale olive oil cannot match, and olive oil is premium, not bulk. The realistic aim is a valuable niche and some import substitution, not self-sufficiency.
What is the advantage of grafting?
Wild olive already grows in the hills. Grafting good varieties onto that existing rootstock is faster and cheaper than raising imported saplings from scratch.
What are the main obstacles?
Trees take years to fruit, milling and grading a fine oil is a learned craft, and Pakistan has to build a home market for olive oil at the same time as an industry.
I have watched more than one country announce an olive miracle and then go quiet when the first oil turns out thin, or the mills are not ready, or nobody at home wants to buy it. Pakistan’s plan is sound where it is modest — drought-hardy trees on dry land, grafted onto native stock, chipping at an import bill. It gets shaky when the talk turns to millions of trees and self-sufficiency. Watch the oil, not the announcements: a young industry is proved in the bottle, one honest harvest at a time.
Drawn from Pakistani agricultural reporting on the Potohar olive programme and the country’s edible-oil import figures.