Investing in the Arbequinia Olive in Algeria

Sept. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- The Spanish company, Espacios Verdes, is participating in a million hectare project to plant olive trees in Algeria. Through an Algerian subsidiary, Dessert Vert, Espacios Verdes will plant 1,500 hectares. Of these, 500 hectares will be open to private investment. In choosing the most appropriate variety of olive to plant in its Algerian project Espacios Verdes went to the University of Cordoba in Spain for advice. They came away with the recommendation to plant the Arbequinia olive, developed for hyper-intensive culture. The Arbequinia is a smaller tree making it easier to hand pick olives and can be planted as many as 1,780 to the hectare, which is what Dessert Vert intends to do. This variety is believed to have originated in Palestine but the name comes from the Catalonian town of Arbeca. This olive is grown throughout Catalonia as well as Aragon and Andalusia in Spain and in countries as distant as Argentina and Australia.

The Arbequinia will be used because of its adaptability to hyper-intensive culture but also because its small, brown olive provides high-quality oil known for its buttery texture and peppery finish. The arbequinia has one of the highest oil concentrations among olives grown for olive oil, typically producing 20 liters of oil for every 100 kilograms of olive. Another advantage of the arbequinia is that it typically matures sufficiently to produce fruit by the third year as opposed to the fifth year which is more usual for olive trees.

This tree is very drought tolerant and is known for its long life. The arbequinia is cold tolerant and can thrive in soils of high salinity. It is one of only three olives suitable for super high density planting in orchards, the others being the Arbosana and Koroneiki.

These last characteristics of cold tolerance, suitability to intensive culture, and longevity are very attractive for planting in a country with a wide variance in rainfall. The arbequinia can adapt to a dry climate, colder night in the highlands, and can thrive with irrigation as well.

The doubling of world wide olive oil consumption in the 1990’s will be followed by a tripling of consumption again by 2020 according to expert sources. Much of the major producing areas in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Greece are in use. Sixty percent of cultivatable land in Greece is devoted to olive orchards! Thus the extra production will need to come from other nations with the climate, soil, and expertise conducive to production of high quality olives and olive oil. Algeria is a natural site for cultivating olives as it has a mild, Mediterranean, climate throughout most of the country.

Espacios Verdes, through its Algerian subsidiary, Dessert Vert, will take advantage of growing demand for olive oil by planting the Arbequinia olive in its orchards in Algeria. Investors interested in this “green” project will find this a profitable way to plant trees, provide employment in rural areas, and provide the world with excellent olive oil.

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