17/05/2010 (The Daily Mail), Islamabad - After conducting successful experiments, the National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) has identified several areas for the cultivation of olive and palm oil to help reduce import bill and enhance income of the farmers.

“We have a large area in Potohar, Sindh and Pakhtoonkhaw where olive trees can give good production results,” Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed told adding that Pakistan was also having favorable areas for the cultivation of palm trees.

He said the country has long coastal areas for planting of palm trees. There are places where these trees can produce more oil as compared to that in Malaysia, he added.

He said the NARC has taken steps to introduce palm oil and olive oil farming in the country and the center would import machinery from Spain to encourage its production.

“We would bring machinery form Spain and replicate it here to facilitate maximum number of farmers interested in the cultivation of palm and olive trees in the country,” he added.

The agriculture analysts believe that production of palm oil and olive oil in the country would save billions of rupees Pakistan has been spending on their import.

Dr. Iftikhar said the NARC has also initiated work on projects aimed to produce bio-fuel products, enabling the country to save huge amounts spent on fuel imports.

The PARC has identified salt tolerant plants including Jatropha, Salicornia and Castor oil plant which could grow in salt marshes on sea beaches and could even sustain for five years without water,” he remarked. He said that the center has also signed an agreement with Canada to promote the production of bio-diesel in the country.

He however, stressed the need for providing proper training to the farmers to make them familiar with the latest farming trends and take full advantage of the latest technologies.

He said the NARC has also made paradigm shift in its research policies, increasing focus on small farmers to utilize low input implements for crop production enhancement.

“The direction of research has been changed and is now focused on low-input agriculture practices to replace the high-input agriculture practices in the country,” he added.