Chakwal, 12-13 December 2016 - UNIDO ITPO Italy organized a two-day training workshop for the development of olive sector value chain at BARI Institute in Chakwal in collaboration with SMEDA and USAID Punjab Enabling Environment Project. Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Sheharyar Tahir, Head of External Relations at SMEDA shared that Olive is one of the high value crops being used worldwide for edible oil extraction and table purpose. Despite the fact that many regions of Pakistan have huge potential for olive cultivation yet plantation on a commercial scale remains limited.

Mr. Asad Zahoor from USAID PEEP Project further added that despite the potential the farmers still struggle with question about variety of olives to grow and techniques required for best production and that inviting Italian experts through UNIDO ITPO office Italy would be very beneficial for stakeholders of olive sector across Pakistan.

In the first session of the workshop, Prof. Giuseppe Lopriore, an expert in nursery and olive orchard management, gave a detailed presentation on best practices and techniques based on Italian model. An on-farm training session was also hosted by Izhar Farms to incorporate practical learning for the participants, where Prof. Lopriore gave practical demonstration on plant management techniques and took questions from the participants.

During subsequent sessions of the workshop, Prof. Alessandro Leone gave an overview of harvesting and post harvesting techniques and technology being used in Italy. While later on, Prof. Riccardo Guidetti spoke about olive oil industry and areas that Pakistan needs to focus in order to being a major olive oil producer of the region.

Mr. Mohammad Faysal, Chief of Olive Oil Division PIERALISI Company also participated in the program to provide insight in the latest Italian technologies in olive oil processing. He said that there is lot of potential for adopting latest technology by establishing service center to cater to farmers growing olives on small scale.

At the closing session Mr. Sheharyar thanked the participants and reaffirmed SMEDA commitment to support olive sector with the support of Government of Italy under the “Joint UNIDO- SMEDA – ITALIA Programme that aims to promote economic cooperation between Pakistan and Italy and assist in the development of SMEs in Pakistan. He also thanked USAID PEEP Project and BARI institute for their support to organize the workshop.