RELAZIONI E MONOGRAFIE AGRARIE TROPICALI E SUBTROPICALI - NUOVA SERIE - 119

119 ISTITUTO AGRONOMICO PER LOLTREMARE

R. DEL CIMA - F. URBANO

RAFFAELE DEL CIMA SELECTION OF SUITABLE AREAS FOR OLIVE GROWING IN PAKISTAN
FERDINANDO URBANO

Olive cultivation has the potential, together with other crops (sunower, canola), to ease the
extreme burden of the bill for edible oils importation in the Pakistani balance of payment,
which is, according to the data of the Pakistan Economic Survey (2006/2007), the second
absolute largest one aer petroleum and the single largest one for food items. Wild olives (Olea
RAFFAELE DEL CIMA
cuspidata W. and Olea ferruginea R.) grow in natural forests in many areas of Pakistan. e
conversion of wild olives as well as the establishment of new plantations could represent an
FERDINANDO URBANO
important income for farmers and a good integration to their diet. A number of initiatives were
attempted in the past in order to introduce olives in some areas of Pakistan, regrettably without
any proper basic research or studies. e sustainable expansion of this crop is strictly linked
to the selection of suitable areas as well as through the appropriate selection of cultivars,
technical support and active involvement of all potential stakeholders. is publication,
developed within the frame of the project Promotion of production and commercialization of
olive oil in Pakistan undertaken by IAO in close collaboration with PODB (Pakistan Oilseed
SELECTION OF SUITABLE AREAS
Development Board) a branch of MINFAL (Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock -
FOR OLIVE GROWING IN PAKISTAN

SELECTION OF SUITABLE AREAS FOR OLIVE GROWING IN PAKISTAN

Government of Pakistan), aims to provide, some extremely needed information concerning the
areas where higher is the possibility of establishing a viable olive industry. An assessment
model was developed using an open source soware platform. rough a limiting factor
analysis, a set of constraint thresholds with valid range of environmental conditions were
dened. e results, in terms both of maps and agronomic assessments, are presented in this
publication as a tangible endeavour to support the expansion of the olive cultivation in the

RELAZIONI E MONOGRAFIE AGRARIE TROPICALI E SUBTROPICALI - NUOVA SERIE

Country, at the best of the knowledge and data so far available.

Raaele Del Cima holds a Master Degree in Agricultural Science gained at the Universit degli
Studi della Tuscia in Viterbo (Italy). He specialized in olive growing at IRO-CNR (Istituto di
Ricerca sulla Olivicoltura) in Perugia, focusing his preparation on olive cultivation and oil
production in extra Mediterranean areas. He was involved in activities in more than eight
Countries in this specic sector (mainly in Southern Africa, Australia and some Asian Countries)
in initiatives promoted by the public and private sector as well as by international organizations.
Hes, at the moment, working as Project Coordinator for the Project Promotion of production
and commercialization of olive oil in Pakistan nanced by the Italian Government and
undertaken by IAO (Istituto Agronomico per lOltremare).

Ferdinando Urbano is graduated in Environmental Engineer in Politecnico of Milan (1999). He

attended the professional Master on Geomatics and Natural Resources Evaluation (2001) at
the Istituto Agronomico per lOltremare (IAO). He is specialized in environmental modelling
and Geographic Information Systems, with a special focus on developing countries. He worked
as aconsultant on GIS applications for desertication assessment, forestry studies, wildlife
management, protected areas, water management and agriculture development in Germany,
Guin-Bissau, Italy, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, and Tanzania.
He collaborates with research institutes, non-governmental organizations, public institutions and
private companies.
Masso delle Fate

ISTITUTO AGRONOMICO PER LOLTREMARE

FLORENCE - ITALY
http://www.iao.florence.it

ISBN 978-88-89507-05-6
 Istituto Agronomico per lOltremare

RAFFAELE DEL CIMA

FERDINANDO URBANO

SELECTION OF SUITABLE AREAS

FOR OLIVE GROWING IN PAKISTAN

Florence 2008

Front cover:
Masso delle Fate Edizioni
 Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Index

INDEX

ACKNOLEDEGMENTS 7

PREFACE 9

INTRODUCTION 11
D EFINING THE BETTER GROWING ENVIRONMENT 13

METHODOLOGY 17
E VALUATION MODEL 17
S OFTWARE PLATFORM 20
COORDINATE REFERENCE SYSTEM 21
Ministero degli Aari Esteri
Istituto Agronomico per lOltremare
Via Antonio Cocchi, 4 - 50131 Firenze (Italy) NATIONAL ASSESSMENT 23
Tel: ++39 055 5061.1 D ATA 23
Fax: ++39 055 5061333 M ORPHOLOGY 23
www.iao.orence.it Digital Elevation Model 23
iao@iao.orence.it Slope 23
Aspect 24
First edition june 2008 Shaded Relief 25
M ETEOROLOGY 26
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, Rainfalll 28
imcluding photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission Temperature (Climate) 28
from the Istituto Agronomico per lOltremare. S OIL 28
Bareness Index 30
A NCILLARY D ATA 31
Topographic Maps 32
Graphics:
Laura Bonaiuti, IAO
Landsat Images 33
Wild Olive Trees 34
Printed in Italy PODB sites 34
Masso delle Fate Edizioni A NALYSIS 34
Signa - Firenze (Italy COMMENTS 50

5
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Index Acknowledegements

MARDAN DISTRICT ASSESSMENT 53

ACKNOWLEDEGMENTS
D ATA 53
M ETEOROLOGY 53 e project Promotion of the production and marketing of olive oil
Meteorological Stations 53 was funded by the Italian Directorate General for Development
S OIL 55
Cooperation-Ministry of Foreign Aairs (MAE-DGCS), as part of
Soil and Landforms 56
Land Cover 59
the agreements between Pakistan and Italy.
A NCILLARY D ATA 61 e technical supervisor for DGCS is Dr. Santa Mol.
Topographic Maps in Vector Format 61 e IAO coordination managers in Italy are Dr. Luciano Conticini
Landsat Images 62 and Dr. Stefano Del Debbio, the local activities coordinator is Dr.
A NALYSIS 63 Raaele Del Cima.
COMMENTS 67

e authors wish to thank all the people that have supported the
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS 69
nalization of this publication.
ACRONYMS 73 A publication of this type is a major task and would not have been
possible without the assistance of many people and organizations who
BIBLIOGRAPHY 75 have contributed by providing data or technical information.

FIGURES INDEX 77 Special thanks due to all PODB (Pakistan Oilseed Development
Board) in particular to Mr. Nyaga Aga (Managing Director PODB),
Mr. Mohamad Shah (Local Coordinator PODB), Mr. Azmat Ali Awan
(Local Coordinator PODB), Mr. Ghulam Idris (Olive oil sector
PODB) for their indispensable precious help, and to Mr. Hashim
Laghari, for his technical support.

6 7
 Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Preface

PREFACE
Innovative new technologies in agriculture are nowadays actively
supporting the work of technicians, and this publication on Land
Suitability is a tangible result.

However, even the constructions of complex digital maps do require

strategic and vital input gathered by technicians who are involved in
the development of the industry.

is project has therefore greatly beneted from the indispensable

and relevant contribution provided by our Counterpart, PODB,
which is extensively involved in promoting and supporting the
cultivation of olives in many areas of the Country.

PODB has also further assisted this work by undertaking the rst
National survey of the olive orchards in Pakistan. is project, which
actively involved a number of eld technicians over a period of three
months, has allowed to get rst hand information concerning
cultivars performances in the dierent growing areas, thus
strengthening the quality of the work.

e outputs of this publication seem to indicate that the farming

communities of two Provinces, NWFP and Balochistan, would be the
ones to benet the most from the introduction of this species.

Unfortunately, a consistent part of the total area (around 800,000

hectares) is located in districts which currently are seriously aected
by political, social, and security volatility.

In these areas the local farming communities are striving to get

reasonable incomes. erefore, the sustainable expansion of olive
cultivation could have a positive impact in the medium-long term.

9
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Preface Introduction

In order to quickly establish this industry, more support should be

INTRODUCTION
given by the National Institutions in the immediate future. In this
The aim of this publication, envisaged within the activities of the
respect, the IAO Project is assisting PODB in the nalization of a
project Promozione della produzione e della commercializzazione
Strategic Plan for the sector. is document shall be the outcome of
dellolio doliva in Pakistan (Promotion of production and
a combined eort of several actors such as growers associations,
commercialization of olive oil in Pakistan), financed by the Italian
technicians, corporate sector, farmers, and policy makers. is plan
Government, is to provide clear indications concerning the selection
will also include technical guidance and development policies.
of suitable areas to grow profitably olives in Pakistan at a
Indeed, if properly enforced by all concerned stakeholders, it will
reconnaissance level of detail.
ensure a sustainable expansion of the industry.
The identification of these areas, unprecedented for this crop in
Pakistan, is going to be an instrumental tool that can offer an
important support to the expansion of the olive cultivation in the
Country.
IAO (Istituto Agronomico per lOltremare) is the technical and
scientific branch of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs devoted
to international technical assistance. This project is undertaken by
IAO in close collaboration with PODB (Pakistan Oilseed
Development Board) a branch of MINFAL (Ministry of Food,
Agriculture and Livestock of Pakistan) aimed at technically support
farmers in their effort to enhance the production of edible oils in
the Country.
Olive cultivation has the potential to ease, together with other crops,
the extreme burden of the bill for edible oils importation in the
Pakistani balance of payment, which is, according to the data of the
Pakistan Economic Survey (Government of Pakistan, 2007), the
second absolute largest one after petroleum and the single largest
one for food items.
A number of initiatives were attempted in the past in order to
introduce olives in some areas of Pakistan, regrettably without any
proper basic research or studies. In many cases the established
orchards were unable to produce abundantly and constantly and not
only because of lack of orchard cares as sometimes argued by
different parties. These orchards were often merely positioned in

10 11
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Introduction
areas not or not entirely suitable for this crop. Recently, some projects
were undertaken by PODB aimed at converting or top-working wild
olives into producing cultivars.
This approach, targeting mainly smallholder farmers in remote areas
of the Country, would have the capability of improving the diet of the
local population throughout the production of oil with a high
biological value as well as to generate better income and job
opportunities.
Wild olives (Olea cuspidata W. and Olea ferruginea R.) grow in natural
forests in many areas of Pakistan, mainly in NWFP, Belochistan and
Punjab. According to PODB, nowadays around 44 million wild olives
are still present in these areas. A good number of trees were in the
past logged and the wood used for handcrafts or as firewood,
exposing the soil to the danger of erosion. Logging unfortunately is
still occurring in some areas, destabilizing slopes and seriously
affecting the fragile ecosystem typical of mountain regions.
The assumption at the base of the conversion of the wild olives in
Pakistan was that wherever these forests are present even cultivars of
Olea Europea L., would grow and produce. This assumption has
proved to be not always correct, since, up to now, part of the top-
worked trees are not yet bearing fruits or sometimes are showing very
little production. It may be argued that the missing production would
be due to mainly agronomical factors such as the use of unsuitable
cultivars of absence of proper pollinizers. However, even if the
adaptation of some cultivars to newly growing areas would be
instrumental in ensuring a viable oil production, at the moment not
much data is made available locally. We may assume (at the least at
this stage) that the importance of the selection of suitable cultivars
would be considered a factor not as relevant as the selection of suitable
areas for the crop. Both, PODB and the IAO project are jointly aiming
at expanding the number of cultivars actually available in the Country
establishing mother blocks and experimental trials.
Indeed, it could be suggested, that the conversion of wild olives (as a
12
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Introduction
system of production) would be recommendable only where the
environmental condition would be suitable for olives. As a matter of
fact, there are also serious doubts regarding possible problems of
compatibility, in the medium and long term, between wild olives
(rootstock) and cultivars (scion).
The output of this publication, in the hope of the authors, should be
considered as a tangible endeavor to support the expansion of the
olive cultivation in the Country, at the best of the knowledge and data
so far available.
DEFINING THE BETTER GROWING ENVIRONMENT
Although it is not among the objectives of this paper to provide
general information about cultivars selection, general agronomy
and orchard husbandry a few key points are herewith briefly
disclosed in order to introduce the criteria selected to define the
most desirable growing environments for olives. (Fontanazza, 1993).
It is widely known that olives are mainly grown around the
Mediterranean basin. Typically the Mediterranean climate is
characterized by warm and dry summers and mild winters. Rains do
occur mainly in winter.
Olives do require well drained soils to adequately grow. Soils should
have a depth of cultivation of at least 0.4/0.5 m and pH ranging from
6 to 7.5. Olive trees are adaptable to a wide range of soil types and
can be grown in siliceous and calcareous soil. However, heavy soils
(very clayish) or sandy soils or more generally soils prone to water
logging should be avoided. Medium fertility soils (having 1-2 % of
organic matter) receiving an average rainfall of at least 500- 550 mm
per year may guarantee good productions. Olive tree can withstand
as low as temperature of -8 or -9 C as long as it is not subjected to
them for many hours provided that trees are not at the active
growing period. Conversantly, during vegetative stages, olives are
13
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Introduction
sensitive to low temperatures, which may cause damage to twigs,
branches and even to the trunk. Relatively low temperatures in
winter are anyway important for this crop, because during this
season, olives have to satisfy their chilling requirement (that may
slightly vary from cultivar to cultivar) in order to be able to produce
good amount of inflorescences and flowers in spring. Unfavorable
weather condition may also compromise the production, in
particular cold and rainy weather during flowering.
However, even within the Mediterranean climate it is appreciated
a certain degree of variability especially concerning factors such as
temperatures and rainfall (total amount and distribution), which
Figure 1 - Building a future agro industry
14
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Introduction
allows the cultivation of olives from North Africa (e.g. Egypt,
Tunisia and Algeria) to the surrounding of Garda Lake in North of
Italy. Although large part of the Mediterranean region is perfectly
suitable for olives, in semi arid or arid countries the cultivation is
possible only in oasis or when water for irrigation is available,
while, in more temperate areas, low temperatures are representing
the main limitation factor for the crop. In many new producing
countries (Argentina, Australia and South Africa) olives are grown
in areas enjoying a climate very close to the Mediterranean one.
However, in many cases, olives were able to originate a good
production even if grown in slightly different conditions that those
typical of the Mediterranean region, especially through the
introduction of specific cultivars and, above all, when adequate
irrigation practices were put in place. The capability (or the
incapability) of some cultivars to adjusting or adapt themselves to
slightly different growing condition than those typical of their
country of origin, not often exhaustively documented in manuals
and books, could pose, in newly producing countries, threats as
well as opportunities.
15
 Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Methodology

METHODOLOGY
In order to support PODB with a technical tool able to explore the
potentiality of Pakistan territory concerning olive production, an
information system able to deal with spatial data (Geographic
Information System - GIS) was set up. A GIS is a tool for
organizing, storing, analyzing, displaying and reporting spatial
information (Longley et al., 2005). It is made up of data, software
tools, hardware and expertise that support a decision process.
The main objective of this information system was to produce
thematic maps able to disclose the relevant information to choose
areas productive for olive and to define a methodology and a set of
data that can be used in the future to produce new useful
information for olive policy planning. To get this result, an
evaluation model based on a set of specific criteria was defined.
Data availability and the wide extension of Pakistan territory just
permitted a national evaluation at a reconnaissance level of detail.
For this reason, a more accurate analysis was attempted for Mardan
district. This local assessment was mainly intended as a pilot
project to define a methodology suited for future detailed studies.

EVALUATION MODEL

Land suitability analysis involves the application of criteria to the

landscape to assess where land is suitable for development of a
specific crop. The suitability is the attitude of a given type of land
to support a defined use (Ongaro, 1998).
In developing the land suitability assessment for olive growing in
Pakistan a number of challenges were faced. The determination of
the evaluation model and the selection of the criteria had to take
into consideration that in many of the newly producing countries
the cultivation of olives was sometimes proved to be possible in not

17
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Methodology
strictly definable Mediterranean climates, thus making difficult to
directly apply models specifically set for those climates. Another
factor of uncertainty is represented by the lack of field information
acquired from experimental field or mother blocks. When
available, field data were not entirely trustable because no or
limited records were taken or made available. Finally, limited
available sources of environmental data represented an important
driving factor in defining an effective methodology.
Considering all the constraints, the overall objective of the study
and the specific context of Pakistan, the selected model is based on
a limiting factor analysis where a set of constraint thresholds
defines valid range of environmental conditions. This approach,
that can be called minimum requirements selection, divides land in
suitable (where all the criteria are satisfied) or unsuitable (where
at least one criteria is not satisfied).
Minimum environmental as well as agronomical requirements for
olives were taken into consideration, to ensure a viable production
without any specific extra support by the growers (e.g. irrigation
systems). Therefore selecting only areas in which an adequate oil
production would be obtained solely through ordinary orchard
husbandry (mainly pruning and fertilization). Nevertheless,
through the information system is always possible to explore the
environmental conditions that have excluded specific areas.
During the elaboration of the model, a specific attention was given
not to include, among the suitable areas, zones characterized by
difficult morphology or at risk of erosion.
According to the general environmental requirements for olives
already discussed, the main thematic groups of data useful to
identify suitable areas can be summarized as follow:
- Morphology
- Climate
- Soil
Once defined a meaningful set of selecting criteria inside each of
18
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Methodology
these thematic groups, the challenge was to get data in order to
operate the analysis. As no complete set of digital data, at the
appropriated level of detail, were made available to the project, for
some of the criteria a certain degree of approximation was taken
into account by using lesser detail set of data (national broad scale
maps) or, when no data was available, indirect indexes.
A slightly different evaluation model was used for the two analyses
at national level and for Mardan district.
It is important to point out that many data already exist for all
Pakistan (i.e., land cover, a complete network of meteorological
stations, detailed topographic maps) but they were not accessible to
the project considering the time and budget constraints or legal
restrictions concerning their use. These dataset may be used in
future improvement of this analysis. Thus, most of the data used
were freely downloaded from Internet, i.e. the digital elevation
model and its derived products, and satellite images and their
derived products.
To sum up, the spatial analysis process that brought to define the
suitable areas included 8 steps:
1. Define criteria for the analysis
2. Define data needed
3. Create a model
4. Determine what GIS analysis operations should be performed
5. Prepare the data
6. Run the model
7. Analyze results
8. Refine the model as needed
The main GIS operations involved in this process were:
- Digitalization in vector format of hardcopy maps
- Raster to vector conversion
- Vector to raster conversion
19
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Methodology Methodology

- Georeferencing
- Reprojection
- Topology cleaning
- Histogram stretching for satellite image visualization
- Buffer
- Reclassification
- Intersection, clip, merge, union on vector
- Map algebra on raster (algebraic, trigonometric, zonal and
logical operators)
- Zonal statistics based on raster and vector
- Map composition

SOFTWARE PLATFORM

To realize the all above mentioned operations, a modular, spatially Figure 2 - QGIS: data visualization (Mardan District)
oriented and comprehensive information system based on free
software was set up. The choice of free software was dictated by
three main reasons:
1. use of free software saved consistent economic resources that
were used to acquire data;
2. many tools included in free GIS software are more advanced
than most of the common commercial software;
3. free software can be acquired by any local institution and
organization that will carry on these analysis in further
studies.

The selected software platform is made up of: a server relational

database management system (PostgreSQL, 2006) and its spatial
extension (PostGIS, 2007), were all tabular and vector data where
stored and processed; a desktop (Quantum GIS, 2007) (Figure 2),
used to visualize and explore data and to compose the final maps;
GIS GRASS (Neteler and Mitasova, 2008) (Figure 3), used to store, Figure 3 - GRASS: example of model builder tool to define unfavorable aspect values

20 21
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Methodology
manage and analyze raster data (the main software tool used
throughout the project); GDAL (Tyler, 2005), to reproject the raster
layers; OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org), used mainly as
spreadsheet. All these software were strictly integrated into one
single modular platform. The system is ready to be linked to Internet
using free software such as Mapserver (http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/)
and KaMap (http://ka-map.maptools.org/), where data and results of
the project could be disseminated in the future to other organizations
and to the general public.
COORDINATE REFERENCE SYSTEM
The choice of the coordinate reference system was made on the basis
of the commonly used projections in Pakistan at national level.
Pakistan falls in two different UTM zones (42 and 43), thus data
were stored in geographic coordinates (latitudes and longitudes)
using WGS84 as datum. To compute areas and distances and to
produce the final outputs (hardcopy maps), a Lambert Conical
Conformal Projection was used (+proj=lcc +lat_1=28 +lat_2=33
+lat_0=30 +lon_0=70 +x_0=1000000 +y_0=1000000
+ellps=WGS84 +datum=WGS84 +units=m +no_defs).
Note on Jannu and Kashmir representation
The approximated line of control in Jammu and Kashmir agreed
by Pakistan and India is represented as a dotted line on all the maps
in this document. The final status of Jammu and Kashmir has not
yet agreed upon by the parties.
22
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
DATA
In this section are introduced and briefly described the data set
used in the GIS operations, their role in the analysis, their sources
and the preprocessing applied. Complete metadata are associated to
each layer inside the information system.
Morphology
Digital Elevation Model
A digital elevation model (DEM) is the digital representation of
ground surface topography or terrain. It was used in the analysis to
take into account the feasible altitude for olive growing.
The data source was the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM),
an international research effort that obtained digital elevation
models on a near-global scale from 56 S to 60 N, to generate the
most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth
to date through an Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar
(http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/). The reference resolution is 90
meters. Data were freely downloaded from CGIAR-CSI SRTM
website (http://csi.cgiar.org) where a improved version of SRTM is
available (Void-filled seamless SRTM data V1, 2004).
Different tiles where joined and then clipped on Pakistan
boundaries (Figure 4).
Slope
Slope is the measurement of the steepness or incline of the terrain.
Slope takes into account physical limitations to manage olive trees
23
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 4 - Map of the digital elevation model of Pakistan
and the risk of erosion. It was computed from the DEM (Figure 5).
Aspect
Aspect refers to the direction to which a slope faces.
The aspect of a slope can produce very significant influences on its
local climate (microclimate) and thus to olive growth.
It was computed from the DEM (Figure 6).
24
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 5 - Map of slopes of Pakistan
Shaded relief
Shaded relief simulates the cast shadow thrown upon a raised relief
map. The use of illumination and shadow produce an appearance
of three-dimensional space on a flat-surfaced map. It was used in
data exploration to visually recognize morphological features. It
was computed from the DEM.
25
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 6 - Map of aspects of Pakistan
Meteorology
Data on rainfall and temperature and their annual distribution are
primary parameters to evaluate favorable environment for olive
growth.
A network of more than 70 meteorological stations exists in
Pakistan (Pakistan Meteorological Service,
http://www.pakmet.com.pk/) (Figure 7).
The project could acquire just a small sub set of stations with
26
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 7 - Map of meteorological stations of Pakistan Meteorological Service
aggregated monthly mean temperature and precipitation. Thus, 8
meteorological stations were used to verify national maps (rainfall
and climate) acquired from Soil Survey of Pakistan in paper format
and then digitized.
The low spatial resolution and the very general information
provided by these maps suggest that the improvement of these data
is a priority for future studies on olive suitability.
27
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 8 - Map of rainfall of Pakistan
Rainfall
Soil Survey of Pakistan rainfall map shows at national level the
annual mean precipitation divided in 6 classes (Figure 8). This is
one of the driving factors to evaluate suitable areas for olives.
Temperature (climate)
No reliable information on daily or monthly temperature covering
28
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 9 - Map of climates of Pakistan
all Pakistan was available to the project. The best index of these
factors was a map with climate information at national level,
combining temperature and rainfall regimes (Figure 9). It was
digitized and integrated into the information system.
Soil
Soil parameters are very important to evaluate land suitability,
29
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Land Cover Facility (GLCF) (http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/).

The Vegetation Continuous Fields collection contains proportional
estimates for vegetative cover types: woody vegetation (Hansen et
al., 2003), herbaceous vegetation, and bare ground.
The product is derived from all seven bands of the MODerate-
resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard
NASAs Terra satellite.
The continuous classification scheme of the VCF product may
depict areas of heterogeneous land cover better than traditional
discrete classification schemes. While traditional classification
schemes indicate where land cover types are concentrated, this VCF
product is great for showing how much of a land cover such as
forest or grassland exists anywhere on a land surface.
This layer was used to identify bare areas where no natural
vegetation at all grew up, meaning a unsuitable environment for
olive trees. The bareness index derived from VCF, after a further
analysis and normalization, expresses in percentage the surface
covered by bare soil (Figure 10).
The values were validated on satellite images and proved to be very
accurate.
Figure 10 - Map of bareness index of Pakistan

Ancillary data
but, due to their spatial variability are the most difficult to find.
In addiction, it is very hard to derive them from other
A large set of ancillary data, not directly involved in the suitability
information sources such as satellite images (Giordano, 1998).
assessment, were used to define the evaluation model and to
In order to include some kind of soil information in the analysis,
validate and interpret the results. Due to the limited resources few
an indirect index was estimated.
data were purchased by the project, while the use of free data was
extensive.
Bareness index
Administrative boundary at district level was the base for many
analysis and visualization. Other important data set are listed
The best national-wide and freely available indirect index of soil
below.
properties was a vegetation cover layer made available by Global

30 31
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 11 - Map of topographic sheets used by the project
Topographic maps
A topographic map is a detailed and accurate graphic
representation of features on the ground, including villages, roads,
rivers and morphology.
29 maps (Figure 11), mainly corresponding to possible suitable
area, were selected at the beginning of the project.
They were digitized, georeferenced and integrated in the
information system.
32
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment
Figure 12 - Map of Landsat scenes used by the project
Landsat images
Satellite images are graphical images taken of the Earths surface
using electromagnetic sensors on board of orbiting satellite or
spacecraft.
They are powerful tools to analyze and explore the earth surface.
Fifteen Landsat7 (Tucker et al., 2004) scenes (Figure 12) at a
resolution of 30 meters where downloaded from the Global Land
Cover Facility (GLCF) web site (http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/).
They refer to years after 2000 and cover all the area potentially
suitable for olive growing. They were used to verify what is on the
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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

ground and to understand the landscape structure. It is important

to mention the role played by Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/):
in many cases specific data or outputs were verified at a very high
level of detail especially those concerning the main natural features
present on Pakistan territory.

Wild olive trees

Even if the categorical assumption that the presence of wild olive

trees means suitable condition for olive growing revealed not to be
always correct, still the information of their distribution in Pakistan
is very interesting. PODB gave approximated estimation of number
of olive trees per district. In particular, the presence of wild olives
in each district can be overlapped with the maps of suitable area to
single out all districts in which the conversion or top-working of
wild olives may be successfully promoted.
Figure 13 - GPS training

PODB sites

PODB is in charge of many field activities regarding olive
cultivation on behalf of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and
Livestock. Given the widely known lack of basic information
especially cultivar specific, an organic and continuous monitoring
of the experimental field was indeed needed. For this reason a
number of PODBs technicians were trained in the use of GPS
devices (Figure 13) and a systematic field survey undertaken in
order to compile a proper database.
Analysis
The final minimum requirements selection analysis at national
level was based on 6 criteria. For each of these criteria, thresholds
or specific classes were defined to produce maps of suitable and
unsuitable areas, as illustrated in the following table and images:
1. Altitude suitable range: 400 1,700 meters a.s.l (considering
the latitude) (Figure 14);
2. Slope suitable range: < 20 (Figure 15);
3. Aspect suitable range: all but north, north-east, north-west
orientation where slope > 5 (Figure 16);
4. Rainfall suitable range: > 250 mm and < 1,000 mm (Figure 17);
5. Climate suitable class: Warm, semi arid, winter rain (Figure 18);
6. Bareness index suitable range: < 95% bare soil (Figure 19).
The selected areas for all criteria were then combined in one final
map where identified areas were matching all the required
conditions. The final results were herewith disclosed through two
kinds of maps. A first group of maps regarding hectarage in

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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Figure 14 - Suitable areas for altitude: > 400 m, < 1,700 m a.s.l. Figure 15 - Suitable areas for slopes: < 20

suitable areas disclosed in aggregation by district (Figure 20), distribution and district suitability was attempted, while in figure
followed by a second group of maps, representing data with a 28 PODB experimental sites were plotted against the map of
higher degree of accuracy (resolution 90 meters) (Figures 21, 22, 23 suitable areas for olives.
and 24). For an accurate analysis it is recommendable to directly
explore in a GIS environment the digital layers produced by the
project in raster format (GeoTIFF).
In figure 25 and 26, some statistics per district and per region were
plotted. Finally, in figure 27 a comparison between wild olive trees

36 37
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Figure 16 - Suitable areas for aspects: all but north, north-east, north-west Figure 17 - Suitable areas for rainfall: > 250 mm and < 1,000 mm

38 39
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Figure 18 - Suitable areas for climate: warm, semi arid, winter rain Figure 19 - Suitable areas for bareness index: < 95%

40 41
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Figure 21 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 1

Figure 20 - Selected areas per district

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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Figure 22 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 2 Figure 23 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 3

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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Figure 25 - Plot of suitable areas per region

Figure 24 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 4

Figure 26 - Plot of suitable areas per district

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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Figure 27 - Map of wild olive trees distribution compared with suitable areas Figure 28 - Map of sites supported by PODB compared with suitable areas

48 49
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
National Assessment National Assessment

Comments that, regrettably, that the majority of the sites selected by PODB
were falling into areas not identified as the best for the crop.
The final elaboration of the data suggests that an area as large as
880,000 hectares may be suitable for olive cultivation in the A specific map was produced where two key layers: wild olive
Country. This amount of hectares could be slightly reduced in distribution and suitable areas for olive cultivation were
future elaboration, by considering more detailed climate and soil overlapped. The output is clearly defining the areas where the
information. conversion of wild olives would be considered a viable option for
the local farming communities.
The main potential areas are focused in some districts of NWFP
(including FATA) and Balochistan. A further close up of the
distribution of the suitable areas reveals that in NWFP the
majority of the areas are located in Charsadda, Bajaur Agency,
Bannu, Buner, Lower Dir, Malakand PA, Mardan, Swabi, Swat,
Kurram Agency, North and South Waziristan, T.A adj Tank, and
Khyber Agency districts. A few smaller areas are also present in
Batagram, Shangla and Kohistan districts. Usually the
distribution of suitable environment in these districts appears to
be fractioned and sparse. In Belochistan the districts with major
potentiality for olives are Barkhan, Loralai, Killa Saifullah,
Musakhel and Kohlu.
As a matter of fact, even tiny potential areas were found during
the initial elaboration of the maps (e.g. outskirts of Gilgit). These
areas were not considered in the final maps because of their
exiguous dimensions as well as because (especially when located
in narrow alpine valleys) already devoted to more profitable crops
than olives.

However, before proceeding with any major investments within

the selected areas, specific field missions and more detailed and
accurate information, especially concerning meteorological
historical data and soil characteristics, should be gathered.
In the map concerning the positioning of the sites supported by
PODB and the distribution of wild olives was possible to notice

50 51
 Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment

MARDAN DISTRICT ASSESSMENT

DATA

In Mardan District, in order to improve the level of detail of the

national suitability analysis, some different factors and data were
introduced.
For what concern data sets on morphology (digital elevation
model, Figure 29; slope, Figure 30; aspect, Figure 31; shaded relief)
data sources and processing are the same as for the national
assessment.
The complete metadata are associated to each layer in the
information system.

Meteorology

Meteorological data at national lever are the coarsest data set used
for the evaluation. For the assessment in Mardan district, two
meteorological stations were selected to consider monthly data
from the last 30 years so to have a more accurate representation of
rainfall and precipitation with their inter and intra annual
variations.

Meteorological stations

None of the meteorological stations of the Pakistan Meteorological

Service was present in Mardan District. The two closest stations
were selected, about 20 km far from Mardan boundary (Figure 32).
Saidu Sharif station, in the north, describes better the climate of
the northern part of the district, characterized by intense relieves,
while Peshawar station, in the south, reveal the climate pattern in
the flat area in the south of the district.

53
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment
Figure 29 - Map of digital elevation model of Mardan District
With just two stations no spatialization was attempted because it
would not be of any significance.
Instead, a deep analysis of the annual variation in rain and
temperature was performed, in order to characterize the climate
condition of the district in detail.
In figures 33, 34, 35 and 36 plots of the mean monthly rainfall,
minimum, maximum and mean monthly temperature were
reported.
54
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment
Figure 30 - Map of slope of Mardan District
Soil
Soil properties are important parameters to assess land suitability,
but due to their spatial variation, it was hard to find reliable
information over vast areas. For Mardan district, a considerable
effort was made to produce information on soils and landforms at
a more detailed scale.
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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment Mardan District Assessment

Figure 32 - Position of meteorological stations around Mardan

Figure 31 - Map of aspect of Mardan District

Soil and landforms

The Pakistan Soil Survey Soil and Landforms map at a reference

scale of 1:250,000 for Mardan district in hardcopy format was made
available to the project. The information was digitized and each
land unit joined with its reference soil profile, on which suitable
soils were identified (Figure 37).

Figure 33 - Mean monthly rainfall

56 57
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment Mardan District Assessment

Figure 34 - Maximum monthly temperature Figure 36 - Mean monthly temperature

Land cover

As no digital land cover data set was available for the district, an
original photo interpretation on Landsat images was attempted to
obtain this information.
At the moment, some national projects are underway in Pakistan to
provide the complete coverage of the Country and the output will
be probably available in a few years.
The land cover interpretation was carried out at a reference scale of
1:100,000 on two Landsat images.
A specific legend was used. This information gathered was used to
support the identification of some unsuitable areas.
Moreover, this elaboration allows the understanding of the current
land use in order to evaluate, within the suitable areas, where olives
may be inserted in the local farming systems.
Figure 35 - Plot of minimum monthly temperature

58 59
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment Mardan District Assessment

Figure 38 - Land cover map of Mardan District

Ancillary data

Topographic maps in vector format

In Mardan District, all the main information on topographic maps

Figure 37 - Soil and landforms map of Mardan District at a scale of 1:250,000 were digitized in vector format. Roads, rivers,
streams and villages are basic data to verify the feasibility of olive
production from an environmental and socio-economic perspective

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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment
Figure 39 - Digital information from topographic maps in Mardan District
and can be used in the future to define specific model to locate the
olive production sites and all the related logistic issues.
Landsat images
To explore the environmental conditions of the district and to
support a detailed data set for land cover interpretation, two
Landsat images were used, one referred at 28/9/2001 (Figure 40)
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Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment
and the other one at 29/9/1992. They also show the land cover
changes in 10 years, identifying the current land use dynamics in
Mardan.
Analysis
The final minimum requirements selection analysis in Mardan
district is based on five criteria. For each of these criteria,
thresholds or specific classes were defined to produce maps of
suitable and unsuitable areas, as illustrated in the following table
and images:
1. Altitude - suitable range: 400 1,700 meters a.s.l;
2. Slope - suitable range: < 20;
3. Aspect - suitable range: all but north, north-east, north-west
orientation where slope > 5;
4. Soil and landforms - suitable classes: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (project codes);
5. Land cover - suitable classes: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 (project codes).
The selected areas for all criteria were then combined in one final
suitable map where identified areas matching all the required
conditions.
The rainfall and temperature along with their annual variations are
analyzed on the base of two meteorological stations. The district is
characterized as a whole and specific addresses are given in the
comments.
The result of the analysis is illustrated in Figure 41. The spatial
resolution of the map is 90 meters.
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Mardan District Assessment Mardan District Assessment

Figure 40 - Landsat scene of Mardan District Figure 41 - Suitable areas from Mardan District analysis

64 65
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Mardan District Assessment Mardan District Assessment

Comments

The higher accuracy in the definition of suitable areas for Mardan

Figure 42 - Suitable areas from national assessment (top) compared to
Mardan district assessment (bottom)
district has allowed the production of a final map in which the
potential area for the district was better defined than the one
produced with the national assessment. The use of detailed land
cover, soil and landforms maps and the meteorological data has
reveal that around 8.8 % of the total district areas would be suitable
for olives (26,074 ha.) instead of the 13.2 % selected in the general
elaboration (39,336 ha) (Figure 42).
The major constraint for olives in this district is represented by its
rainfall pattern. The average rain distributions gathered from the
two stations (Saidu Sharif and Peshawar) showed the same pattern,
even if, quantity wise, the rainfall from the northern one was
usually double in quantity (total mm of rain). Rather than average
rainfall, the attention should be posed on its distribution. For the
entire district precipitations, are mainly concentrated in the month
of March (full flowering season, with values as high as 160 mm) as
well as in full summer (July-August, monsoon rains). This rain
pattern could pose threats for the olive cultivation in the district for
two main reasons. The first and immediate one is that constant
rainfall occurring at flowering time may heavily reduce the
production. The second source of concern is that, rainfall in
summer time (not typical of the Mediterranean region), could
trigger the proliferation of various plant diseases. This last aspect
was already evident for the harvest 2007 in Sang Bhatti, where
various samples of olives collected at the local research station,
were showing high infestation of Gleosporium Olivarum (up to 50%
recorded by the author). As a consequence, olive growing in the
district would be probably characterized by a fluctuating
production strictly connected to the risk of heavy rainfall at
flowering, and in constant need of chemical treatments with
fungicides to keep fungal diseases under control. This aspect could
directly affect the cost of production.

66 67
 Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Final Consideration

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

According to the findings disclosed by this paper, it seems evident

that a viable olive oil production could be established in the
Country over the next few years. The sustainable expansion of the
industry (including table olives) would be strictly linked to the
selection of suitable areas as well as through appropriate technical
support and active involvement of all potential stakeholders. Thus,
even if funds and human resources were so far devoted to the
establishment of this industry, much more should be done in the
future to ensure its sustainable expansion.
According to the data, the better areas for the olive cultivation are
mainly situated in NWFP and Belochistan, areas in which the
majority of farmers are striving to get better incomes and where,
generally, the population is in need for more job opportunities.
Although the aim of this work did not contemplate, at this stage, the
convenience of inserting olives into the local farming systems, as
the farming systems are actually mainly decided by the farmers
themselves, the matter would be briefly examinated and a possible
scenario envisaged. It is widely known that, especially for flattish
irrigated and fertile land, the choice of the farmers in future would
probably go or remain to other kind of crops such as vegetables or
other species of fruits rather than olives. Arbitrary, we may assume
that mainly farmers having land with slopes above 10% would be
interested in introducing this crop in their farming system. By
considering this percentage (about 30% of the entire suitable area)
we may reduce the total potential area at around 264,000 hectares.
By assuming that one third of this area would be put under olive
cultivation, and by adopting an average plant density of 250 trees
per hectare (expecting a production of 4 ton of olives per hectare
when fully grown) a production of olive oil in the region of 72,000
ton per year would be achievable (extraction rate at 18%). Pending
more accurate cultivars specific information, extremely needed

69
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Final Consideration

from the nursery sector as well as the farming and business

communities, around 25 million olive trees (among the better
performing for quantity and quality of production) would be
necessary over the next 15-20 years for the area indicated. Even if
the described scenario is purely a speculation, especially because
of the large number of socio-economic variables involved, it
appears undisputable that a large number of actors (or parties)
should be fully involved to succeed with this industry since its
beginning.
An attempt to put together all major stakeholders for the industry
is actually made by PODB, which is receiving full support by the
IAO project Promotion of production and commercialization of
olive oil in Pakistan. The aim is to develop a Strategic Development
Plan for the entire sector, instrumental tool at this stage, to properly
coordinate the efforts of all parties involved, such as farmers,
growers associations, research institutions and private sector.
For what concerns land evaluation for olive growing, a future
improvement of the analysis at national level is recommended,
following the methodology illustrated with the pilot study for
Mardan district. It is important to reiterate that the software
platform and most of the data used to perform this GIS assessment
are free and therefore this analysis can be easily replicate in the
future.
Ultimately, a variety of systems of cultivation would coexist in the
future. Higher density orchards, with a certain degree of
mechanization, would be typical of more favorable growing
conditions alongside with low-density orchards, typical of areas
characterized by small properties, especially if situated in difficult
terrains. In this environment, olive cultivation would encompass
the conversion of wild olives as well as the introduction of orchards
with a wider layout to allow intercropping.

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 Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Acronyms

ACRONYMS

CGIAR-CSI Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

Consortium for Spatial Information
DEM Digital Elevation Model
GIS Geographic Information Systems
GLCF Global Land Cover Facility
GPS Global Positioning System
GRASS Geographic Resources Analysis Support System Software
IAO Istituto Agronomico per lOltremare
MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NWFP North-West Frontier Province
PODB Pakistan Oilseed Development Board
SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
UTM Universal Transverse Mercator
VCF Vegetation Continuous Fields
WGS World Geodetic System

73
 Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fontanazza G., 1993. Olivicoltura intensiva meccanizzata. Edagricole,

Bologna, 312 p.

Giordano A., 1998. Soil and soil conservation with focus on remote
sensing. Istituto Agronomico per l'Oltremare, Relazioni e Monografie
Agrarie Subtropicali e Tropicali, nuova serie n 116, Florence, 14 p.

Government of Pakistan, 2007. Economic Survey 2006-07.

Government of Pakistan, Finance Division - Economic Adviser's
Wing, 137 p.

Hansen M., DeFries R.S., Townshend J.R.G., Carroll M., Dimiceli C.,
Sohlberg R.A., 2003. Global Percent Tree Cover at a Spatial Resolution
of 500 Meters: First Results of the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields
Algorithm. Earth Interactions, Vol 7 (10): 1-15.

Longley P.A., Goodchild M.F., Maguire D.J., Rhind D.W., 2005.

Geographic Information Systems and Science. John Wiley & Sons, New
York, NY, 472 p.

Neteler M., Mitasova H., 2008. Open Source GIS: A GRASS GIS
Approach. The International Series in Engineering and Computer
Science: Volume 773, Springer, New York, 406 p.

Ongaro L., 1998. Land unit mapping for land evaluation. Istituto
Agronomico per l'Oltremare, Relazioni e monografie agrarie, nuova
serie n 115, Florence, 50 p.

Tucker C.J., Grant D.M., Dykstra J.D., 2004. NASAs Global Orthorec-
tified Landsat Data Set. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sen-
sing Vol. 70 (3): 313322.

75
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Bibliography Figure Index

FIGURE INDEX
Tyler M., 2005. Web Mapping Illustrated. O'Reilly, 326 p.
Figure 1 - Building a future agro industry 14
Figure 2 - QGIS: data visualization (Mardan District) 21
Internet Links Figure 3 - GRASS: example of model builder tool
to define unfavorable aspect values 21
PostGIS. Version 1.2, 2007. Refractions Research Inc., Victoria, British
Figure 4 - Map of the digital elevation model of Pakistan 24
Columbia, Canada. http://postgis.refractions.net/.
Figure 5 - Map of slopes of Pakistan 25

PostgreSQL. Version 8.2.3, 2006. The PostgreSQL Global Figure 6 - Map of aspects of Pakistan 26
Development Group. http://www.postgresql.org/. Figure 7 - Map of meteorological stations of Pakistan
Meteorological Service 27
Quantum GIS (QGIS). Version 0.8.1, 2007. QGIS Development Team. Figure 8 - Map of rainfall of Pakistan 28
http://www.qgis.org/. Figure 9 - Map of climates of Pakistan 29
Figure 10 - Map of bareness index of Pakistan 30
Void-filled seamless SRTM data V1, 2004. International Centre for
Figure 11 - Map of topographic sheets used by the project 32
Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org.
Figure 12 - Map of Landsat scenes used by the project 33
Figure 13 - GPS training 35
Figure 14 - Suitable areas for altitude: > 400 m,
< 1,700 m a.s.l. 36
Figure 15 - Suitable areas for slopes: < 20 37
Figure 16 - Suitable areas for aspects:
all but north, north-east, north-west 38
Figure 17 - Suitable areas for rainfall:
> 250 mm and < 1,000 mm 39
Figure 18 - Suitable areas for climate:
warm, semi arid, winter rain 40
Figure 19 - Suitable areas for bareness index: < 95% 41
Figure 20 - Selected areas per district 42
Figure 21 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 1 43
Figure 22 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 2 44

76 77
Selection of Suitable Areas for Olive Growing in Pakistan
Figure Index

Figure 23 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 3 45

Figure 24 - Suitable areas: detailed overview 4 46
Figure 25 - Plot of suitable areas per region 47
Figure 26 - Plot of suitable areas per district 47
Figure 27 - Map of wild olive trees distribution
compared with suitable areas 48
Figure 28 - Map of sites supported by PODB
compared with suitable areas 49
Figure 29 - Map of digital elevation model
of Mardan District 54
Figure 30 - Map of slope of Mardan District 55
Figure 31 - Map of aspect of Mardan District 56
Figure 32 - Position of meteorological stations
around Mardan 57
Figure 33 - Mean monthly rainfall 57
Figure 34 - Maximum monthly temperature 58
Figure 35 - Plot of minimum monthly temperature 58
Figure 36 - Mean monthly temperature 59
Figure 37 - Soil and landforms map of Mardan District 60
Figure 38 - Land cover map of Mardan District 61
Figure 39 - Digital information from topographic maps
in Mardan District 62
Figure 40 - Landsat scene of Mardan District 64
Figure 41 - Suitable areas from Mardan District analysis 65
Figure 42 - Suitable areas from national assessment (left)
compared to Mardan District assessment (right) 66

78
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2008