R&D projects
Most of the projects implemented by the IOC are co–financed by the Common Fund for Commodities (http://www.common-fund.org/).
SCHEDULED PROJECTS
PROGRAMME FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF SUSTAINABLE IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT IN OLIVE GROWING - IRRIGAOLIVO CFC/IOOC/06
Duration: four years
Location: Morocco and Syria
Description: Demonstration fields will be set up in two irrigated olive-growing areas typical of the Mediterranean region. The pilot plots will serve as an operational tool for local researchers and extension services to demonstrate the advantages of olive irrigation and new water distribution methods and irrigation strategies to farmers. The goal is to teach appropriate irrigation techniques in areas where olive oil production is essential for the livelihood of small farmers. The introduction of rational irrigation in such areas should mark a qualitative change by improving the productivity and sustainability of olive production. The dissemination of the results should impact positively on olive production throughout the entire Mediterranean region.
COMPLETED PROJECTS
PROJECT FOR THE CONSERVATION, CHARACTERISATION, COLLECTION AND UTILISATION OF GENETIC RESOURCES IN OLIVE (RESGEN)
Objective: characterisation/description of the cultivars making up the genetic olive resources of the participant member countries and inclusion of the different genotypes in the national and international (Córdoba and Tassaout-Marrakech) olive germplasm banks.
The participant countries were grouped by three sources of funding:
European Commission
Countries: France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain
Common Fund for Commodities
Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Syria
Project executing agency (PEA): Istituto per la Valorizzazione del Legno e delle Specie Arboree - Sesto Fiorentino (Florence, Italy)
International Olive Council
Countries: Croatia, Cyprus, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Slovenia
Coordinator: IOC
One of the principal objectives of the RESGEN project was for all the cultivars characterised by the participant countries to be conserved in their respective national collections as well as in the two world collections at Córdoba (Spain) and Marrakech (Morocco).
The International Olive Council arranged for the autochthonous varieties held in the national collections of the project participant countries to be shipped for planting in the two world collections. All the varieties shipped have been certified from the phytosanitary and varietal points of view by the countries that performed the characterisation.
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PILOT PROJECT FOR THE COMPARISON OF OLIVE FLOWERING AND OLIVE YIELDS (CFC/IOOC/07FT)
This project aimed to devise a model for forecasting crop yields based on pollen monitoring in various areas in order to equip olive farmers with a planning tool.
Objectives
- To obtain data on olive flowering in a major Mediterranean olive-growing country
- To interpret this phenomenon and study the relationships between flowering and weather conditions and their influence on the next crop harvests
- To compare flowering data, expressed as specific quantitative parameters (pollen indices), with yield data
- To ascertain the relationship between pollen emission and crop yields in the area under study
Country: Tunisia
Project executing agency (PEA): Institut de l’Olivier (IO), Sfax, (Tunisia)
Supervisory body: International Olive Council
Visit the project website (http://www.medpalolea.net)
PROJECT ON THE RECYCLING OF OLIVE WASTEWATER (CFC/IOOC/O4)
Objectives
The prime objective of this project was to put forward a rational solution to the problem of disposing of the wastewater generated by olive oil production. Activities included running practical demonstrations to show the benefits of recycling vegetable water by using it as a fertiliser on agricultural land planted with herbaceous or tree crops. Other tandem objectives were:
- To prevent wastewater from being discharged into urban sewage systems and watercourses and causing environmental pollution
- To use wastewater and composted olive pomace as fertilisers on agricultural land in order to raise crop yields
- To reduce the use of chemical fertilisers with the ensuing benefits for the agricultural economy and the environment
Participant countries and collaborating centres:
- Algeria: Institut Technique de l’Arboriculture Fruitière et de la Vigne – ITAF
- Morocco: Directorate for Plant Production, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Water Resources and Forestry
- Syria: Olive Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture, Idleb
- Tunisia: Institut de l’Olivier, Sfax
Project executing agency (PEA): École Nationale d’Agriculture (ENA), Meknès (Morocco)
Supervisory body: International Olive Council (IOC)
See: GOOD PRACTICES OF VEGETABLE WATER AND COMPOST SPREADING ON AGRICULTURAL LAND: THE OLIVE GROWING CASE
Visit project website (http://www.cfc-iooc-04.ma/)
PROJECT FOR PILOT DEMONSTRATION PLANTS AND TRAINING TO IMPROVE OLIVE OIL QUALITY
Objective: Installation of three pilot olive oil processing plants for demonstration and training purposes in southern and eastern Mediterranean countries with the aim of disseminating new olive oil production techniques, raising product quality and lowering production costs
Countries: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia
Project executing agency (PEA): Estación de Olivicultura y Elaiotecnia, Mengíbar, Jaén, (Spain)
Sources of financing: CFC, IOC and participant countries
Successful bidder for the supply and installation of the plants: COMAGRI-PIERALISI
PROGRAMME FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF SUSTAINABLE IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT IN OLIVE GROWING
Duration: Forty-eight months
Location: Olive-growing member countries of the International Olive Council: Morocco and Syria.
Nature of Project: Programme for the development and dissemination of sustainable irrigation management in olive growing
Brief description:Demonstration fields will be set up in two irrigated olive-growing areas typical of the Mediterranean region. The primary purpose of the pilot plots will be to serve as an operational tool for local researchers and extension services to demonstrate the advantages of olive irrigation, and the new water distribution methods and irrigation strategies to farmers. The goal is to establish appropriate irrigation techniques to the farmers and environments where olive oil production is essential for the livelihoods of small farmers. The introduction of rational irrigation in these areas should represent a qualitative change by improving the productivity and the sustainability of olive production, and the dissemination of the results should impact positively olive production over the whole Mediterranean region.
Supervisory body: International Olive Council (IOC)
PROJECT FOR OLIVE HARVEST FORECASTING THROUGH POLLEN MONITORING
The objective of this project was to design a statistical model for predicting harvests, based on the ratio between the quantity of pollen released by trees during flowering and the volume of fruit production. The main stages involved were:
- Phenological study of the reproductive phases of the olive tree in two olive-growing areas
- Comparison of phenological behaviour in two distinct climatic areas
- Aerobiological study during flowering
- Comparative study of the data collected at the pollen station in the two areas
- Identification of the main meteorological, agronomic and phytopathological parameters and assessment of their influence on olive flowering and fruiting
- Comparison of the sampling results obtained in the pilot localities with the results taken from series of historical data
Participants: University of Córdoba (Spain) and University of Perugia (Italy)
Funding: International Olive Council (IOC)
More [It]
PROJECT FOR THE GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF THE OLIVE
Objective: To obtain new varieties of olive through crossbreeding of known, described autochthonous stock in order to improve certain traits, particularly productivity, regularity of bearing and adaptation to water and soil limitations. The project also aimed to improve oil composition and to heighten plant tolerance of constraints imposed by soil and climatic factors; European cultivars were also used for this purpose.
Funding: Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)/International Olive Council (IOC)
Project executing agency (PEA): Dipartimento di Ortoflorofrutticoltura, Università di Firenze, Florence (Italy)
Countries and collaborating centres:
Algeria (ITAF)
Egypt (HRI)
Morocco (INRA)
Tunisia (IO)
Turkey (ORI) (financed solely by the IOC from August 1995, when Turkey left the CFC, until December 1998, when it ceased to be a Member of the IOC)
The project was enlarged to include Israel in 1996 (on IOC funding).
INTERACTIVE TECHNICAL GUIDES
- World catalogue of olive varieties order
- Production techniques in olive growing download
- Olive nursery production and plant production techniques
- Code of good practice for the sustainable development of olive orchards in areas characterised by fragile ecosystems
UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS
- Remarkable olive trees of the world
- Glossary of olive terminology
