Secretary Agriculture & Livestock, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Mohammad Israr has said that over 0.1 million acres land was highly suitable for the cultivation of saffron, which could earn a huge amount of Rs 870 billion per annum for the prov-ince. He was talking during a meeting held in Saudi Royal Embassy, said an official handout issued here on Monday.
Besides, the Director General (DG) Agriculture (Extension), Jan Mohammad, DG Research Abdul Bari, DG Agriculture (Extension) Newly Merged Areas, Murad Ali, agriculture experts including Ahmad Said and Mohammad Younas, Aqil Shah also attended the meeting. During the meeting, the agricultural experts briefed the Commercial Attaché and other office bearers of the Saudi Royal Embassy for promotion of saffron and olive cultivation and Berry Honey and investment opportunities in this regard.
The Secretary Agriculture KP told the participation of the meeting that the saffron was cultivated in the province on experimental basis two years back, which bears positive results and on that basis, the provincial government has also approved a specific planning. He said that KP offered a good investment opportunity for Saudi Arabian investors to import cheaper saffron from the province.
Regarding the potential of olive oil production, he said that about 80% area of the province was suit-able for olive cultivation and best quality oil could be produced of it. He said that according to a survey KP had 70 million wild olive plants, which could be easily transformed into the best variety.
