From Andalusia to Madrid, Spain Shocked at Wave of Olive Thefts

From Granada to Madrid, wide­spread and well-orga­nized olive thefts are occur­ring on an unprece­dented scale across Spain as the price of olive oil con­tin­ues to break records.

An olive grower from Brea del Tajo, in the autonomous com­mu­nity of Madrid, esti­mates that he has lost 25 tons of olives to theft so far this sea­son.

Meanwhile, in a sin­gle oper­a­tion in Jaén, the world’s most pro­duc­tive olive-grow­ing region by a wide mar­gin, the author­i­ties seized more than five tons from sus­pected thieves.

The impact of the crime wave has been so severe that the Spanish Association of Young Farmers and Ranchers (Asaja) has issued a state­ment con­firm­ing that it is coor­di­nat­ing with the secu­rity ser­vices and the national Directorate General of Agriculture, Livestock and Food to counter the threat.

Despite this, some asso­ci­a­tion mem­bers feel that the judi­cial sys­tem is inef­fec­tual.

“We do not yet have con­crete data, but we do receive the con­cerns of farm­ers who are expe­ri­enc­ing this sit­u­a­tion, and we know that com­plaints are being filed,” said Francisco José García, pres­i­dent of Asaja Madrid. ​“These are just the tip of the ice­berg, though, because not all those affected are fil­ing com­plaints.”

“We are aware of cases in which the author­i­ties have been noti­fied, and the per­pe­tra­tors have been caught red-handed, but the olives are seized, and [then the per­pe­tra­tors] leave,” he added. ​“Farmers feel unpro­tected.”

In addi­tion to the loss of their crops, such thefts cause grow­ers long-term losses in the form of dam­age sus­tained by the tar­geted trees.

Fídel del Olmo, an olive grower from the Madrid region, told Asaja that ​“they go to steal, not to col­lect; they do it with­out regard, where there are more olives and where they can load quickly.”

“Beyond this year… there is the future dam­age,” he added. ​“The olive tree suf­fers a lot from the blows that they deliver to remove the fruit, they carry it out with­out regard or care, and the tree feels that dur­ing the next sea­son.”

Roca, the Countryside Theft task force of Spain’s Guardia Civil (Civil Guard, a branch of the armed forces that acts in a polic­ing capac­ity), appears to be hav­ing some suc­cess in Andalusia, the world’s largest olive-grow­ing region.

In Granada, agents have appre­hended 11 sus­pects since January 24 on charges includ­ing rob­bery with vio­lence.

In Jaén, mem­bers of the task force uncov­ered a sophis­ti­cated oper­a­tion dur­ing a rou­tine check specif­i­cally intended to safe­guard unhar­vested olives in the area. A request for paper­work from a group of indi­vid­u­als parked among olive groves revealed an orga­nized net­work sus­pected of mul­ti­ple thefts total­ing more than five tons of olives, fal­si­fy­ing com­mer­cial doc­u­ments and imper­son­ation.

The Guardia Civil has issued advi­sories rec­om­mend­ing that farm­ers and the pub­lic exer­cise par­tic­u­lar vig­i­lance and report any sus­pi­cious behav­ior.

They also increas­ingly focus on com­mer­cial trans­porta­tion and pur­chase points like olive mills. This increased atten­tion led to the seizure of 7.3 tons of undoc­u­mented olives at a col­lec­tion point in Miajadas, Extremadura, last month.

García also believes that buy­ers are respon­si­ble for ensur­ing the prove­nance of the olives they pur­chase.

“We would like to ask olive buy­ers to take this prob­lem into con­sid­er­a­tion and try to trace the ori­gin of the fruit to pre­vent the stolen prod­uct from enter­ing the chan­nels,” he said, ​“Likewise, we would also ask farm­ers who give per­mis­sion to third par­ties to col­lect their olives to do so in writ­ing so that this con­sent exists in some form.”

• Asaja
• Agrodigital
• Guardia Civil