The prime minister’s advisor said that rain-dependent regions including Potohar region in across the country can be turned...
CHAKWAL: Prime Minister’s Advisor on Climate Change on Sunday said that efforts are being stepped up to launch a large-scale Olive Tree Tsunami programme in the country’s regions hit by recurring water shortages, droughts and plunging groundwater levels.
Directives have been already issued to climate change ministry’s forestry officials for rolling out an over-arching and viable national plan of cultivating 50 million olive trees as a part of the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme in consultation with all provincial and federal stakeholders on urgent basis, , he told media on Sunday after visiting olive growing areas in Chakwal district.
Amin Aslam highlighted that the olive tree planation at such a huge scale would be boosted with construction of the rainwater harvesting storage ponds in drought-hit areas and use of efficient irrigation technologies and practices.
The prime minister’s advisor said that rain-dependent regions including Potohar region in across the country can be turned into a food baskets by promoting large-scale olive tree plantation, where agriculture sector is struggling with frequent drought conditions, falling rainfalls and irrigation water shortages.
“Since olive is a drought-tolerant staple plant, efforts would be made to increase olive farming area in the Potohar region’s Chakwal, Attock, Jehlum and Rawalpindi districts as well as various others water-stressed districts of Balochistan and Khybr-Pakhtunkhwa, which suffer frequent drought conditions because of declining rainfalls,” Amin Aslam told media.