Rajasthan to grow olives with Israeli know-how

Rajasthan is gearing up to grow olives with the state government already having tied up with an Israel-based company for farming olives.

"More than 5,000 olive saplings have reached Jaipur from Israel which are being kept at the Durgapura nursery for maturing", said Prabhu Lal Saini, Rajasthan's agriculture minister.

Once the saplings mature in a year, they would be planted in the fields.

"We are importing about 110,000 olive saplings from Israel in a phased manner with the next consignment of 5,000 saplings expected to reach soon", he said.

In April, the Rajasthan Olive Cultivation Limited was set up to promote olive cultivation in the state.

It is a company jointly owned by the Rajasthan Agriculture Marketing Board, Plastro Plasson Industries India and Indolive Company, Israel.

Model olive farms would be set up on 30 hectares at seven places in the state at a cost of over Rs 10 crore, the minister said.

Under the present arrangement, the state government and the Indian company would fund the project while the Israeli firm would provide technical assistance for farming olives.

The minister said local farmers would be involved in the project if its execution on the government-land proved successful.