Tuesday,20 October 2020

One farmer, Muhammad Mir of district zhob Balochistan, was provided 300 plants by BARDC Quetta in year 2015. The olives were provided by PIDSA project. BARDC The undersigned went for farmer field selection in year December 2019 visited this farm of Muhammad Mir and found this farm worth seeing. The olive farm is of 2.5 acres and olives are planted on contours in hilly area. The farm looks lovely place for inspection and visit of higher authorities. The plants were in very good condition with uniform height and bright green color. The farmer briefed that he has sold olive oil of about Rs. 5 lacs in November & December 2019 from this orchard. The oil was extracted in Loralai. The farmer is irrigation through a perennial spring which has an estimated discharge of about 0.5 cusecs. The water is lifted about 80 ft to a reservoir and then supplied to plants through gravity drip irrigation system which is totally farmers managed. The earthen water reservoir was having problems due to leakage/cracks. BARDC helped the farmer technically by providing one roll of 300 micron Polyethylene sheet for lining in the pond, which has helped the farmer to conserve water and irrigate efficiently. This farmer was provided 1000 more plants in 2020 which were provided to BARDC through PSDP Olive project Islamabad. Nadeem Sadiq, PSO, BARDC