Spain offers its agricultural expertise to help Pakistan expand olive cultivation, improve oil quality and tackle worsening water shortages.
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 12 (Focus Pakistan) — Spain presses more olive oil than any other country. Under a new Pakistan Spain olive oil pledge, it now plans to share that know-how with Islamabad.Olive oil production in Pakistan sat high on the agenda when Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain met Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas Puchades, in Türkiye. The two pledged to deepen farm cooperation, with olive cultivation and water management also on the table.
The numbers show how far Pakistan has to travel. Spain produced about 1.3 million tonnes of olive oil in the 2025/26 crop year, according to its agriculture ministry, or roughly 38 percent of global output as estimated by the International Olive Council. Pakistan produced 19 kilograms in 2016. A government survey expects this year’s output to reach close to 716 tonnes, a small fraction of Spain’s harvest.
Planas offered Spanish expertise in modern irrigation, precision agriculture and sustainable water management. He also welcomed Pakistan’s plan to send a technical delegation to Spain to study advanced farming, meet Spanish institutions and find practical routes for technology transfer.
Also Read: Shehbaz Revives Shelved Moscow Trip, Bringing Big Business Delegation Along
Tanveer told his counterpart that Pakistan has wide room to grow in olives. He wants Pakistani growers and processors to draw on Spain’s experience in orchard management, modern processing, quality standards, value addition and international marketing.
Why Islamabad wants olives
The olive push ties into one of Pakistan’s heaviest import lines. The Pakistan Economic Survey projects the country’s edible oil and oilseed import bill at about $6 billion for fiscal 2025-26, with local production meeting only about 10 percent of edible oil demand.
Olive oil makes up a sliver of that bill, around 0.3 percent of edible oil imports. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif still launched a National Olive Value Chain Policy in August and argued that producing olive oil at home could save part of the import bill.
The groundwork already exists. Tanveer said this year that Pakistan has planted more than 7 million olive trees across 55,669 acres. The government now plans to hand out 2 million saplings and bring another 15,000 acres under olives over three years.
Water ran through the meeting as much as olives did. Tanveer said Pakistan needs water-efficient farm technology to cope with climate change and worsening shortages. He argued that cooperation in precision farming, modern irrigation and smarter water use could lift crop yields and cut input costs.
The ministers also discussed Spain’s experience in water reuse and farm mechanisation. They agreed to build closer ties between agricultural research institutions and technical specialists in both countries.
Spain’s earlier support
The meeting builds on a year of steady contact. Spain backed Pakistan’s bid for full membership of the International Olive Council, which Pakistan secured in May 2026 before taking its seat at the Council’s Lisbon session in June. In July, Tanveer met Spanish Ambassador Carlos Aragón Gil de la Serna in Islamabad and proposed a Pakistan–Spain Joint Working Group on Agriculture.
Neither government has announced dates for the delegation’s trip to Spain or a timeline for the working group.
