Olive Industry in Jordan

Abstract

Jordan is one of the Middle East countries located between latitudes 29°N and 33°N and longitudes 34°E to 39°E and whose climatic conditions enable olive growing. The olive industry in Jordan witnessed tremendous progress within the last 40 years (1980-2009). The progress included the production of nursery olive trees using modern techniques and the adoption of intensive olive growing, training, and pruning systems. A landmark of olive orchards management was observed in all aspects of production starting with orchard site choice, fertilizers and fertilization, supplemental irrigation and methods of irrigation, olive cultivar choice, semi-mechanical harvesting, organic olive production, integrated pest management, and finally olive processing and olive oil extraction. For these reasons, Jordan at present is self-sufficient in olive production and becomes an exporter. By making a simple comparison between the low year 1997-2007, the total number of grown trees jumped from 346,148 in 1987 to 11,127,000 in 2007. Also, olive production increased from 82,003 metric tons in 1997 to 138,689 tons in 2008 and the area planted with olive boosted from 94,139 to 127,572 ha for the same time period. On the other hand, the increasing in productivity in density attributable to the use of supplementary irrigation, which enable the cultivation of olive trees in the eastern part of the Kingdome using underground water. Table olive and olive oil produced, exported, and imported changed dramatically during the period between 1986 to 2006. For example, in 1986 table olive produced, exported, and imported was 31,800, 1,200, and 300 ton, respectively, while in 2006 these figures changed to 146,800, 2,700, and zero ton, respectively. For olive oil, the amount exported and imported in 1986 was 1900 and 7400 tons, respectively, while in 2006 the exported and the imported amount of olive oil was 2500 and zero tons, respectively. In conclusion, the future of the olive industry in Jordan in the short and the long run is promising.