`Groups Work to Improve Viability of Table Olives in Andalusia - Olive Oil Times

Groups Work to Improve Viability of Table Olives in Andalusia

By Chris Lindahl
Oct. 13, 2014 15:54 UTC

Agricultural orga­ni­za­tions and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture are work­ing together to cre­ate a work­ing plan to improve the via­bil­ity of the strug­gling table olive indus­try in the autonomous com­mu­nity of Andalusia.

The Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training, Agrarian Association of Young Farmers, the Coordinating Body of Farmers and Ranchers, Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers, Andalusian Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Companies and Asemesa, the asso­ci­a­tion of table olive pro­duc­ers and exports are work­ing with the Spanish gov­ern­ment to mod­ern­ize the indus­try. Together, these groups hope their sec­tor will play a larger role in the Rural Development Plan of Andalusia.

The work­ing group is meet­ing in Sevilla to dis­cuss how to return the crop to prof­itabil­ity. Over the last 15 years, pro­duc­tion costs of the Manzanilla and Gordal vari­eties have exceeded income from its sales, accord­ing to a 2010 study by the Department of Agriculture. Over the last five years, over 8,000 hectares of these vari­eties have been uprooted in Andalusia alone, due to their prof­itabil­ity prob­lems.

Sevilla, a province within Andalusia, pro­duces 80 per­cent of Spain’s table olives, and 25 per­cent of the world’s total. In the meet­ing, rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers stressed the impor­tance of the sec­tor on the econ­omy, with 20,000 farms engaged in cul­ti­va­tion of table olives. 400 pro­cess­ing com­pa­nies in the region employ 8,500 peo­ple.


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