Scope of olive cultivation in Pakistan
By Muhammad Shoaib Ahmedani*, Shehbaz Ahmed Warraich**
*Ph.D. Scholar, department of Entomology, UAAR.
** Dean Faculty of Crop and Food Sciences, University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi.
1: Introduction:
There is a lot of potential for olive cultivation in Pakistan. The estimates have revealed that if eight million wild olive trees present in different provinces are grafted and converted into the productive olive then there is a potential of earning a maximum of one billion dollars annually (Table-4). Similarly, we may earn a maximum of 9 billion dollars annually if olive cultivation is made on cultivable potential waste lands (Table-5). The olive appears to have been native to Asia, being one of the earliest trees cultivated by man. The trees belong to oleaceae family and comprise 30 genera with 600 species. The plant is xerophitic upon species of tree the olea-europea or Europium olive. Olive is an integral part of the diet of the people of the Mediterranean lands and is a source of fat in diet of these people. Olive oil is widely used in countries where fats are scarce. In Indo-Pak sub-continent a wild olive, olea cuspida is found within the northwest Himalayas and other adjoining hills but cultivated olive olea Europea is not grown anywhere on commercial scale. This plant is locally known as
Zytoon in Urdu,
Showan in Pushtu,
Khat in Brahavi and
kow in Punjabi, Sindhi and Saraiki. The importance of olive oil has also been narrated several times in the Holy Quran. During the mid of last century;( around 1950s), a number of grafted olive plants of several varieties were imported and planted in Kashmir, Simla and Kangra hills at Harnai, Fort Sandeman (Zhob) in Balochistan, Peshawar, Swat (NWFP), Rawalpindi, Sargodha, and Jhelum (Punjab) districts.
1.1:OLIVE MAP
1.2: BOTANICAL PERSPECTIVE OF OLIVE
Genera
Ø
Fraxinus
Ø
Ligustrum
Ø
Syringa
Ø
Olea ( olive
CULTIVARS OF Olea europaea
Ø Nocellara del belice
Ø Nocellara
Ø Biancolilla
Ø Coratina
Ø Carolea
Ø Ottoberitica
Ø Leccino
Ø Pendolino
Ø Uslo
Ø Gemlik
Ø Domate
Ø Moraiolo
1.3 OLIVE VARITIES
Alfonso
These are very large purplish olives. They have a distinctive acidic bite.
Arbequina
These are very small, even tiny olives that are a medium brown color. They originate in Spain (the Siurana district in Catalonia) and are characterized by a small amount of pleasantly bitter flesh on each olive. They are always brine cured. This olive is also prized for making excellent olive oil.
Ascolane
From the Italian Cuneau district, this is a very large and meaty olive with a delicate flavor.
Atalanti
Named for the town of Atalanti in eastern Greece on the Aegean Sea. These green olives are rather pale/gray in color, medium round, and have a "zingy" flavor.
Dry Cured
Often cured in sea salt in order to draw out the moisture from the olive over a period of several weeks. After this period is ready to eat. Typically these olives are stored in a little olive oil.
Elitses
A Greek olive not unlike a French Nicoise olive. Its color ranges in color from purple to black. It is a small olive with little flesh.
Farga Aragon
A Spanish olive from the Aragon district. It is brine cured, deep brown, and tender fleshed.
Gaeta
A famous black olive from Greece. It has a moderately pungent and "deep" flavor.
Kalamata
A variety of Greek olives that originate from the city of Kalamata in the Southern Peloponnese of Greece. Kalamata olives are pickled in wine vinegar. The pickling process develops a very pronounced flavor of salt and vinegar. They have a very meaty flesh which is strong in flavor.
Manzanilla
This green olive originates in Spain in the Andalousia district. It is medium sized with a flavor reminiscent of almonds. It goes particularly well with tapas and sherry.
Nafplion
Named for the small seaside town in Greece, this is a small, green olive with a nutty flavor.
Nicoise
French Nicoise olive. Its color ranges in color from purple to black. It is a small olive with little flesh.
1.4: OLIVE FROM RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE
The divine revelation Quran deals some species of plants including Mustard tree or tooth brush tree, Acacia, Onion, Pomegranate, Grape, Fig, Euphorbia, Sweet basil, Gourd, Cucumber, Garlic, Lentil, Ginger, Heena, Cedar, Date, Manna, Tamarisic, Cactus-Bitter, Blessed Tree and Olive.
Olives have been mentioned seven times in the Quran and their health benefits have been propounded in Prophetic medicine.
Ø By the fig and olive And the mount of Sinai And the city of security We have indeed created man in the best of moulds (The Fig, Surah 95)
Ø “ Zaithun is a plant of useful characters neither of east nor west” (Sura Noor – 35).
Ø Allah is the one who sends water down from the sky therewith we brought froth plants of all kinds and from them the verdure and we brought forth from it the clustered grains, and from the palm trees its spathes with bunches of dates, the gardens of grapes, olive and pomegranates, similar and different look at their fruit when they bear it and their ripeing, varity in that their signs for people who believe (Quran 6:99)
Ø
And a tree (olive) that springs forth from Mount Sinai, that grows (produces) oil, and (it is) relish for the eaters. ( 23:20 )
Ø He causes to grow for you the crops, the olives, the date-palms, the grapes, and every kind of fruit
(16:10-11)
The Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is reported to have said:
Take oil of olive and massage with it – it is a blessed tree.
Ø Hazrath Abu Hurairah narrates that the Prophet (Pbuh) stated, “Eat the olive oil and apply it (locally), since there is cure for seventy diseases in it, one of them is Leprosy.” (Abu Naim)
Ø Hazrat Zaid Bin Arqam narrates, “ We have been directed by the Prophet (Pbuh) that we should treat the Pleurisy with Qust-e-Behri (Qust Sheerin) and olive oil.” (Tirmizi, sanadeAhmed, Ibn Maja)
Ø Hazrat Sayyed Al-Ansari narrates that the Prophet (Pbuh) said “Eat the olive oil and massage it over your bodies since it is a holy (mubarak) tree.” (Tirmizi, Ibn Maja)
Ø Hazrat Alqama Bin Amir narrates that Prophet (Pbuh) said, “ There is olive oil for you, eat it, massage over your body, since it is effective in Heamorrhoids (Piles).” (Ibn Al-Jozi, Zanbi)
Ø Hazrat Aqba Bin Amir narrates that the Prophet (Pbuh) stated, “You have the olive oil from this Holy (mubarak) tree, treat yourself with this, since it cures the Anal fissure (Basoor).”
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, Was there the Tree of Life, Which bare twelve manner of fruit every month: And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2
A breath which comes from this world shakes the branches of the Tree of Life, Which spreads the fragrance of the future world in this world, And brings the holy souls alive. These souls come up waking each other . .
And the Tree of Life rejoices. The Zohar III, 1731
There is a tree, the root of Transmigration, the Asvattha Tree everlasting. Its branches spread from earth to heaven, and the powers of nature give them life.
Its buds are the pleasures of the senses. Far down below, its roots stretch into the world of men, binding a mortal through selfish actions. Men do not see the changing form of that tree, nor its beginning, nor its end, nor where its roots are? Bhagavad-Gita 15:1-5
1.4 SECRET OF OLIVE TREE
The secret of the olive tree is in two things: its fruit, the olive itself, and its massive underground root system that can extend over twenty feet. The roots are so extensive and strong that in times of drought, when other trees die, the zaytuna tree is still standing because it draws from deep within the earth when the heavens withhold their life-giving water. Another aspect of these roots is that they enable the tree to produce olives for hundreds of years: even after the tree looks as if there is no life left in it, it continues to produce olives.
Chemical composition of Olive: Oleic acid, stearic acid, Myristic acid, palmatic acid, linolic acid, arachidic acid and non-drying acid.
Chemical composition of Olive: Oleic acid, stearic acid, Myristic acid, palmatic acid, linolic acid, arachidic acid and non-drying acid
1.5: OLIVE FRUIT TYPES AND NUTRIONAL VALUE
- Fresh olive at the picking stage. [To the lower right is a sectioned olive showing the stony endocarp (pit) surrounding the seed.
- Fresh olive that is turning black on tree.
- Pitted, canned olive treated with ferrous gluconate.
- Pitted, canned green olive stuffed with pimento, a bright red Capsicum pepper cultivar. Fresh olives are soaked in lye (sodium hydroxide) to remove the bitter oleuropein. Commercially grown olives are picked green and are oxidized in air (aerated) to produce the black color. The black color of canned olives is stabilized with ferrous gluconate. Oxidation is prevented in green olives to preserve their color.
Unlike most unsaturated plant oils which come from seeds, monounsaturated olive oil is obtained from the pulp or mesocarp of the fruit. Virgin olive oil is obtained from the 1st pressing.