Concern and concern prevails among the olive producers of the West Cretewith the main cause of drought which admittedly hurt the trees.
Contacting Giorgos Stavroulakis, The financial secretary and member of the Board of Directors of SEDIK (Association of Olive-Growing Municipalities of Crete) Giorgos Stavroulakis told APE-MPE that: “Indeed there is a problem in the non-irrigated olive groves from the drought, but not to the extent that mention some publications”.
As he explained: “Due to dehydration, the fruit appears shriveled and blackened with the result that it has a lower olive oil content depending on the degree of dehydration at the local level and varies from region to region, in this case the reduction in the quantities of the produced product. However, lack of moisture is not a cause of fruit loss. In the general characteristics of anombria where the loss of quantities of olive oil is a given, there is also a positive in terms of quality. The shrunken fruit is not attacked by the main enemy of the olive, which is the weevil, due to the reduced crumb of the fruit that does not allow it to hatch its egg, and it is also a deterrent to other pathogenic organisms that are enemies of the olive, resulting in reduced produced product to be of high quality, which, however, is not compensated due to the reduced quantity and the impossibility of its commercial exploitation”.
He also explained that: “There is also a category of non-irrigated, in which the fruit, apart from the melanoma and the smaller size, appears very shrunken and wrinkled, produces a minimal amount of oil, and while the characteristics of acidity and organoleptics may be close to excellent, it fails the test tasting. That is, its aroma and taste do not have the fruity characteristics of the extra virgin and the taste resembles that of wood, probably because the bark is almost attached to the core, which ranks it in the category of simple virgin or even depending on the case and in lampades. In this year’s harvest, such specimens have also been observed, but not on a large scale. However, it is expected that during the olive growing season they will multiply. So the damage from the drought is a given and its magnitude will be captured more accurately towards the end of December.
Through the reflection that emerges regarding olive growing and the periodic problems that olive producers have, we asked Mr. Stavroulakis if it is finally worth it for a young person to deal with this particular crop. “It is worth it for a young person to engage professionally in olive cultivation under similar conditions”, he told us, explaining that: “Olive oil is internationally recognized as one of the leading agro-food products worldwide with known and varied beneficial properties in terms of human health. Especially in the Mediterranean Basin it is widely accepted that the best quality oil in the world is produced. Based on what is true today, the global need to consume olive oil tends to perpetuity with an upward trend. The conditions in the professional employment perspective are many. It is important to secure a sufficient area of land, both in terms of acreage, which is not easy as the land is divided from generation to generation, so it is a serious brake for serious and high-level farms. Also, a prerequisite is the suitability of the candidate land in combination with the necessary knowledge that the new producer should acquire and the possibility of the relevant necessary investment in terms of mechanical equipment etc. Olive cultivation for a young and industrious person can be a quite profitable profession with a high future perspective.
What is the future of olive production and olive cultivation?
Regarding the future of olive production and olive cultivation, the available scientific evidence is abundant and well-documented to indicate that the path of olive oil will be long and upward in the future. According to Stavros Stavroulakis, the dark spot is the “games” with the prices and trade of olive oil. “These have been happening for a long time with the main reason being the lack of collective exploitation of the product. In many areas of Crete, there are no cooperatives and where they exist, they do not operate according to modern logic, with a few bright exceptions. In many areas, the role of marketing has been taken over by the olive mills, where, however, the quantities they have to manage, as well as the distribution methods, lag significantly behind the international competition. The quantities collected individually by each olive mill do not allow them to have the possibility to enter serious markets and large international store chains. On the other hand, the disposal of the extra-virgin (about 90% of the Cretan production on average is extra-virgin) is done in bulk, that is, as if it is a low-value product that we want to get rid of”.
According to the official data of ELSTAT, of the almost 100,000 tons on average produced annually in Crete, 55,000 tons are exported in bulk form, where various games are played, always at the expense of the consumers and especially the producer. “I believe that historians of the future will make special mention of the decline of management, for decades, of a leading nutritional product in the world.”
We asked about the Association of Olive-Growing Municipalities of Crete, how interventional and therapeutic it can work. According to Mr. Stavroulakis, “SEDIK throughout the years has demonstrated great work in all sectors of olive cultivation. This is a huge crop in numbers. According to the official data kept by the competent services, the number of olive trees in Chania Prefecture is 7,302,000, in Rethymno Prefecture 4,550,000, in Heraklion Prefecture 16,780,000 and in Lasithi Prefecture 5,563. 000, with the general total for the island being about 34,195,000. I believe that today the number is higher and we are waiting for today’s determination because the figures refer to a few years back. For this huge cultivation, SEDIK has demonstrated a great work with a number of actions and interventions, including scientific actions for the correct practices of olive cultivation. Interventions on oil and cultivation in schools, the most reliable olive oil competition annually, efforts to establish olive tourism, it also has the most reliable olive oil price sheet and so much more to protect the cultivation of producers and olive oil”.
It is important, as he explained, that thousands of families gain income, in Crete, from olive cultivation and for this reason, all producers are interested and seriously engaged in the matter. From the younger generations there is a strong desire to modernize and engage in innovative practices of olive cultivation and despite the disappointment about the final disposal of the product, if they are somehow supported by a modern and fair treatment by the state the heavy industry of the primary sector of the island, it will be important rise.
Speaking about the official state and to what extent it supports the main pillar of cultivation on the island, as he told us, this happens completely superficially: “I personally believe this, since no kind of national strategy has ever been drawn up, when in fact the value of the annually produced of olive oil in our country reaches 2 billion, by far the most important in terms of economic sizes and not only, which overshadows the totality of all other crops. With a seriously designed national strategy, the value generated could well exceed 2 billion. The most serious involvement of the Greek state is the financing of dakotonia, where it is underfunded. For example, for 2024 the funding for the implementation of dakotonia in Crete amounts to €19,693,564 (without VAT 13%) while correspondingly 12 years ago (2012) the funding was €26,750,000. There is a sloppiness with which the Greek State deals with olive cultivation, it continues in the matter of subsidies, where the aids are calculated taking into account only the hectare area and are similar to the uncovered areas (pastures), which are not cultivated and therefore do not require any work and effort”.
The correct approach to aid would be, as explained by Mr. Stavroulakis, its connection with production, i.e. “…to strengthen those who labored and produced. In this way, the producer would have an incentive to declare his production, the state would in turn collect more revenue and at the same time the “black” trade in gas cans would be limited, but above all the sense of justice towards the producers would be strengthened ».
His personal opinion is also that international competition, which is intense, cannot scare Crete and the Peloponnese either because “…they have comparative advantages and have nothing to fear especially if the “thorn” of the final disposition is overcome. More specifically, the quality (potentially of good practices) of the produced product is demonstrably very high and if in the future we manage to deliver the relative surplus value that the product deserves, then our country will not have to fear international competition”.
Despite the leading position of Italy and Spain in the production of olive oil as said by Mr. Stavroulakis, the problems they face are many: “For Spain, the big problem is climate change and the lack of water, resulting in a significant reduction in production, and for Italy, despite the fact that it managed to secure duty-free oil from third country (Tunisia) this does not seem to cover it in order to ensure the quality oil it needs for its exports, and for this it resorts at the risk of illegal methods of Italianization of foreigners oils”.
The financial secretary of SEDIK Stavros Stavroulakis insists that, “if we as Crete and in general as a country, focus on the production of high quality products and solve our internal problems, we do not have to fear any international competitor, because we have the heaviest weapon called exceptional quality”.