Structural problems of Turkish olive growing

Turkey is one of the world's largest olive producers. The number of trees rose from 87 million in 1995 to 157 million by 2012, and production takes place in 41 provinces. Yet olive oil output averages 150,000 tonnes — only 5% of world production.

That contrast is the story of the sector's structural problems: the trees are there, the yield is not.

1. Low yield per tree

In traditional groves the yield runs at 10–15 kg per tree. Modern high-density orchards can produce several times that.

The reasons are not single:

• The share of old trees. Around 60% of the sector consists of old trees unsuited to modern harvesting.
• Lack of pruning and rejuvenation. An unmaintained tree yields less and stays open to disease.
• Irrigation. The olive tolerates drought, but without water it will not give a high yield.

2. Harvesting stays manual

The terrain of traditional groves is often unsuited to modern harvesting machinery: sloping ground, irregular spacing, old trees whose canopies have grown into one another.

Where machinery cannot go, harvesting falls to hand labour. That has two consequences:

• Costs rise. Harvesting is among the largest cost items in olive production.
• Harvest is delayed. Late-picked fruit raises acidity and lowers oil quality. What spoils what: what does acidity mean in olive oil.

3. The data isn't reliable

This is the sector's quietest problem. Crop forecasts rest largely on expert observation; tree counts and production figures for table olives and oil are not kept current.

Without data:

• The grower waits on a price without knowing how large the crop will be
• The exporter cannot plan stock
• The policymaker cannot judge what to support

The proposed remedy is a genuine database built on a geographic information system: how many trees in which province, of which variety, at what age.

4. The support gap

In the European Union the premium runs at around 1 euro per kilogram for olive oil and 20 euro cents for table olives. Support in Turkey sits markedly below that level.

The gap shapes not only the grower's income but competitiveness: two products meet in the same market having been produced under different levels of support.

5. Informality and adulteration

Unrecorded consumption is widespread in both table olives and olive oil. On top of that come adulterated products: cotton, canola and safflower oil blended and sold as olive oil.

There are two victims here: the honest producer and consumer trust. What a label tells you, and what to look for: how to tell good olive oil.

6. The wild olives left unused

Turkey holds some 80 million wild olive (delice) trees, and they are not being put to use. Grafting them into production is a faster and cheaper route than establishing new groves.

What can be done

The measures that recur across the sources:

1. A reliable database built on a geographic information system

2. Development of climate-resilient clones of local varieties

3. A nationwide pruning and rejuvenation programme

4. More quality-control laboratories

5. Promotion to grow domestic consumption

6. Bringing wild olives into production by grafting

Where production concentrates

Olives are grown in 41 of Turkey's 81 provinces — half the country. But the weight of production sits in a few regions:

The table also shows a risk: more than half of production sits in one region. A drought, frost or disease striking the Aegean shakes national output directly. The same narrowness exists on the variety side — three varieties make up three quarters of the tree stock: olive varieties.

Only a quarter of the fruit reaches the table

About 27% of the olives grown are processed as table olives; the rest goes to oil.

That ratio explains two things:

• Why variety recognition is low. Fruit that goes to oil carries no variety name on the bottle; the consumer does not know Memecik is 45% of the country.
• Where the value added is lost. Table olives leave more value per kilogram, yet most production takes the lower value-added route.

Consumption stays in the producing regions

Olive oil consumption is largely confined to the regions that produce it. With the domestic market not widening, the grower is left with a single buffer: exports.

Growing domestic consumption is not merely a marketing question — it is a question of price stability. A broad home market would absorb some of the supply shock created by alternate bearing.

The scale of holdings

Olive growing in Turkey is carried out mainly by small family holdings. Small scale produces its own consequences:

• Machinery investment cannot be met alone
• Produce is sold individually, without bargaining power
• There is no capacity to store — the crop is sold at the post-harvest price

Cooperative organisation is the main instrument that could change this picture; the effect of structures such as Marmarabirlik on grower prices is one example.

Further reading

This page sets out the general frame. Two problems are treated separately:

• Alternate bearing: one year yes, one year no
• Vegetation water and pomace: olive oil's waste problem

Sources

• EGİAD Yarın — Turkey's olive sector: problems and proposed solutions
• Zeytin Dostu Association — olive growing in Turkey
• TurkStat — production and tree-stock statistics