Sindyanna of Galilee
By Asaf Adiv and Abed al-Majid Hussein
Olives are one of the primary crops indigenous to the Middle East -- for centuries, they were the mainstay of Arab farmers in this region. Yet the olive industry in Israel has not flourished with the development of the state. Sales and marketing of Arab-grown olive oil have traditionally been discouraged by the Israeli authorities, leaving Arab farmers with little incentive to invest in production.
Reviving the market of olive products has always been a dream of the agricultural committee at the al-Baqa Center. This dream inspired the Center to initiate the Sindyanna of Galilee Olive Oil Project. On November 7-9, about 50 volunteers - Arabs and Jews - spent three days in the village of Deir Hana, picking olives to be pressed into extra-virgin olive oil. The project aims to provide Arab cultivators with new channels, local and foreign, through which to sell their oil at a decent profit.
Olive groves - Systematic neglectOlive oil is a basic item in the Arab kitchen; in Israel, average consumption among the Arab population is estimated at 4 liters a year per person (compared to 400 ml in the Israeli Jewish population). Arab families store between 15 to 20 liters a year per member. The sale of surplus oil provides supplementary income for families whose members are manual laborers in the cities. Olives constitute the only crop in Israel which is still dominated by Arab farmers. Traditionally lucrative crops, such as citrus and tobacco, ceased to be grown after 1948. Olive trees have thus remained the only staple of Arab agriculture. Of 700,000 dunams of Arab-owned land in Israel, 140,000 contain olive trees. These trees - some of them hundreds of years old - have weathered the slow deterioration of the soil quality in the region. The most concentrated places of olive tree cultivation are the hilly areas of the triangle and the Galilee.Over the past 48 years, Arab landowners in Israel have given up on the idea of cultivating olives in mass quantities, primarily because sufficient water allocation is not available from the state. The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture does not encourage or assist olive tree cultivation in any way, despite the fact that olives are the second most common fruit crop in the region, after citrus. Although Israel is a leading country in the field of agriculture, no technology has been applied to developing the cultivation of olives, or to advancing the olive oil industry. Olive growers complain of a closed and tightly-controlled marketing system, which leaves the farmer with neither profit nor assistance in bad years. Reviving Interest in the Olive Tree For Palestinians, the olive tree has always symbolized permanence and connection to the land. Many attest that in times of political instability, people tend to react by planting new olive trees. During the seventies, a new wave of interest in olive trees swept the Arab villages. This sprang from a number of (non-commercial) phenomena, including: 1) the growing demand for olive oil due to the growth of the population; and 2) the need to replace olive groves which were torn down to build houses; and 3) an increasing awareness of the need to prevent the confiscation of Arab land. Since the early eighties, 35,000 dunams of new olive groves have been planted. In the village of Sakhnin alone, new trees have been planted on 3,000 dunams of land threatened with confiscation. Meanwhile, awareness of olives as a natural health aid has risen. Recent research led by Professor Eliot Bari at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem has revealed that "olive oil contributes not only to lessening cholesterol level, but it also prevents oxidation, which is the real cause of heart trouble" (Ha'aretz, 10.10.94). Ha'aretz also quotes Nutrition and Cardiovascular Disease magazine on the anti-oxygen qualities in olive oil which prevent the damaging change in the chemical structure of cholesterol.
Thus, the olive industry in Israel clearly has economic potential. If the correct steps are taken, new opportunities for the sale of olive oil could open up both in the local market and abroad. This year, olive oil production in the Galilee is expected to reach 7,000 tons, 5,000 of which will be used for domestic and local marketing. This will leave 2,000 tons with no market. In the past, merchants from the West Bank would buy up all the surplus and export it to neighboring Arab countries through Jordan. Since the closure, however, and the severing of relations with Saudi Arabia (a major customer), this venue has been closed.
Sindyanna of Galilee is one attempt. We are looking for contacts with progressive marketing chains who will ensure fair prices for our farmers. We would appreciate information from our readers about channels for marketing our high-quality olive oil abroad.
Sindyanna of Galilee Association |