Zaytoun - Olive Oil
Our forefathers planted trees so that we may eat. We protect the trees so that future generations may eat.
Abdou Gehad of farmers co-op, Al Zaytouna.
Zaytoun in partnership with equalexchange - resisting the occupation by insisting on life.
Zaytoun (the Arabic word for olives) is a non-profit organisation established to purchase and import olive oil from Palestinian farmers at fair trade prices. We are working in partnership with these passionate farmers to try and develop a new market for the olive farmers within the UK.
The oil is made from fresh, handpicked olives grown and harvested using traditional farming methods.
Fair Trade is a new concept in Palestine. Life is dominated by their struggle for existence under occupation. Land confiscation is a constant threat; communities are separated from each other and their fields by the new ‘security’ wall. Simple tasks of day to day business may involve circuitous journeys.
Whilst 75% of Palestinians live in poverty, over half of the country’s olive harvest goes unsold and spoils, due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation of the land. Olive trees are grown on over 80% of the cultivated land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the olive harvest plays a major role in the agricultural economy. Farmers bringing in this harvest face severe difficulties arising from military closure of the land and violence from illegal settlers.
In this environment the PFTA (Palestinian Fair Trade Association) is attempting to work with farmers in nine co-operatives (around 2-400 farmers in each) developing fair trade practices. They are identifying fair wages for field and press workers and conditions of employment and a pricing system which gives long term security.
However resources are short and experience of European quality requirements virtually non existent. Investment is needed to improve systems at all levels to ensure good quality is maintained from harvest through to pressing, storage and bottling.
The olives are grown by farmers in cooperatives from the Jenin, Salfit and Ramallah areas. Each farmer has grown olives on the family farm and then organised pressing through their own local co-operative.
The oil is bottled and exported by a farmer owned company called Canaan fair trade, creating local jobs.
Olive production
Olive trees are the most important cultivated tree crop for Palestinian farmers. The industry involves over 100,000 people.
Nearly all production comes from small terraced fields and old trees of local varieties. Summers are hot and dry, rainfall is low and water resources are scarce. Irrigation is impossible. Farmers have few resources to prune or fertilize the trees so cropping has developed a biennial pattern which creates further economic burdens.
