`New Olive Oil Production in the Canaries - Olive Oil Times

New Olive Oil Production in the Canaries

By Daniel Williams
Aug. 26, 2010 10:07 UTC

Government of the Canary Islands Furthers Commitment to Develop Trees for Olive Oil Production

The General Director of Agriculture for the Government of the Canary Islands, Mr. Domingo Bueno, recently vis­ited exper­i­men­tal olive groves that were part of a pilot project ini­ti­ated in 2005 aimed at the even­tual pro­duc­tion of olive oil in the islands. The olive plan­ta­tions belong to the Cumbres de Abona Cooperative and the pres­i­dent of that entity, Mr. Manuel Marrero, was on hand to meet with Mr. Bueno to dis­cuss cur­rent devel­op­ments and future plans for the olive groves
located in Arico, Tenerife.

Now some 5 years after the imple­men­ta­tion of the pilot pro­gram, the Canary Islands has amassed some 40,000 olive oil trees and has under­gone 12 highly suc­cess­ful expe­ri­ences in olive oil extrac­tion. The prod­uct has been sold and con­sumed locally and boasts two highly sought after organolep­tic char­ac­ter­is­tics of extra vir­gin olive oil: smooth fla­vor and an intense aroma.

Canary Islands

The pro­gram is now being car­ried out in other parts of the Canary Island arch­i­pel­ago such as Granadilla de Abona, Agüimes (in Gran Canaria) and Fuerteventura. The ini­tia­tive has received Mr. Bueno’s full and con­tin­ued sup­port and promises to diver­sify the agri­cul­tural economies of the islands: The project offers an inter­est­ing and promis­ing crop due to the favor­able weather of the arch­i­pel­ago, the high qual­ity and quan­tity of olive oil pro­duc­tion on the island, and the fact that these trees require very lit­tle water – all of which will help to diver­sify the avail­able food prod­ucts here in the Archipelago.”[1]

The olive project which began in Tenerife South started with the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion and expan­sion of a num­ber of Acebuche trees: a wild, cen­ten­nial olive tree which grow nat­u­rally in the region’s val­leys and pro­duce uniquely large quan­ti­ties of olives. In a mere 5 years, these trees have become highly pro­duc­tive and wide­spread. The ini­tia­tive will now turn to mar­ket­ing this olive oil from the Canary Islands and will become the first olive oil ever launched into the native mar­ket
and exported else­where.

The Canary Islands, col­lo­qui­ally also known as the Canaries, are a Spanish arch­i­pel­ago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The arch­i­pel­ago is located just off the north­west coast of main­land Africa, 100 km west of the dis­puted bor­der between Morocco and the Western Sahara. Though the pop­u­la­tion of the arch­i­pel­ago is just over 2 mil­lion, more than 12 mil­lion tourists visit the Canaries each year. The sea cur­rents that depart from Canary’s coasts used to lead ships away to America. The islands from largest to small­est are: Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Alegranza and Montaña Clara.

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[1] Agricultura aboga por el fomento del cul­tivo del oli­var en Canarias por ser intere­sante y prom­ete­dor’” CANARIASAHORA.com

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