Saudi environment ministry completes olive project

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has announced it has successfully produced more than 30 varieties of olives trees from different countries. (File photo / SPA)

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has announced that the Camel and Pasture Research Center in Al-Jouf, represented by the Olive Research Unit, has successfully produced more than 30 varieties of olives trees from different countries.
The ministry said the success was “achieved due to the suitability of the Kingdom’s environmental conditions, where some of the varieties gave high productivity.”
It said intensive agricultural techniques were introduced in 2006, which proved successful and has been expanded for large enterprises and companies, adding the most modern methods of harvesting were also introduced.
The center’s Olive Research Unit was launched in 2002, with the establishment of a hereditary complex containing more than 30 varieties from the most famous olive producing countries, including Spain, Italy, Greece, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, and Morocco. 
The top nine categories were then selected due to their high productivity and quality.
The center produces high quality seedlings of different olive varieties, which it distributes to olive-producing farmers at nominal prices in an effort to support the industry, as olives are a widespread food security crop and an important source of healthy fats in nutrition.
Olives are grown in confined areas between latitudes of 30-45 degrees and Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that benefits from the the climate of the Mediterranean basin, particularly the northern regions of Al-Jouf, Tabuk and Hail and the southern regions of Al-Baha and Asir, where olive trees have been regarded as a blessing since ancient times.
Olive growth is suitable for mild temperates in the winter and hot temperatures in the summer.