The Ambassador of Italy to Pakistan, Andreas Ferrarese, stated that his country was investing €1.5 million into a project to help Pakistan Olive Cultivation. He went on to say that Italy has always played a vital role in assisting Pakistan with developing their olive cultivation and technical expertise.
The “Olive Culture” project, worth 1.5 million euros, is to be carried out over 26 months in appropriate areas by CIHEAM Bari in partnership with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) through the Pakistan Oilseed Department. It builds upon all the prior work done by Italy, with a comprehensive approach covering all aspects and all participants.
The Ambassador organized an event to underscore Italy’s role in promoting the Olive and Olive Oil sector and its value chain in Pakistan, with the financial support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation – AICS in Pakistan.
Marco Marchetti, Project Coordinator at CIHEAM Bari International Olive Culture, spoke about Italy’s role in the cultivation and processing of olives in Pakistan. He said that Italian technical assistance for Pakistan in the olive growing sector started 40 years ago, with adaptive research schemes to assess the viability for modern cultivation of the crop in Pakistan. Marchetti added that Pakistan’s overall exports to Italy are currently worth $763 million, and its overall imports from Italy are worth $754 million, indicating fair trade between the two countries (in the 80s and 90s).
It was followed by the launch of the first significant olive crop investment (2012-2015) through the PIDSA, resulting in 2000 hectares of plantation in marginal and wastelands, he said.
He said that in 2016, olive cultivation was introduced in the Programme for Poverty Reduction sponsored by the Italian government and executed by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), through which three oil extraction units were being established on a public-private partnership basis with the farmer communities.
More recently, in March 2022, a key project “Olive Culture Holistic and Multi-Professional Mechanism for a Pakistani Olive Oil Value Chain”, has been launched.
Marco said that the project was funded by the Italian government and implemented by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari – CIHEAM.
Director of the AICS Office in Islamabad, Emanuela Benini, said that the building of a multi-professional Olive and Olive Oil Value Chain shall ensure high quality.
