Oiling the cogs of hope for Palestinian farmers
Fairtrade is to market Zaytoun olive oil on behalf of growers
IT'S A GROWER: The first Fairtrade-certified olive oil was launched last month. Campaigners say this Zaytoun brand will help create a viable and long-term market for Palestinian farmers
Tuesday March 10 2009
It's the essential ingredient in the Mediterranean diet and marketed as life-enhancing nectar, but the business of olive oil production is fraught with environmental and political tensions.
In the EU, industrial scale olive oil production is being blamed by ecologists for disproportionate consumption of scarce water resources, soil erosion and even impending desertification in parts of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.
In Israel and Palestine, the annual olive harvest has become a flashpoint for conflict between Israeli settlers and Palestinian farmers and producers in the West Bank.
More than 100,000 Palestinian farmers depend on olives and olive oil production for an income, but harvesting and production in the last decade has been blighted by limited access to land and water and, on occasion, violent confrontation with militant Israeli settlers.
The olive oil harvest in some parts of the West Bank is now saved under the gaze of Israeli Defence Force escorts and international monitors, while Palestinian solidarity groups from within Israel and western countries send volunteers to assist the Palestinians with harvesting their staple crop.
And while the Israeli government has condemned the illegal activities of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and committed security resources to safeguard the Palestinian olive harvest, a UN update published before last October's harvest reported an extremely volatile situation.
"The movement restrictions and obstacles imposed by the Israeli Defence Forces, which reduce access to land and markets; the barrier which separates many farmers from their olive groves; the closure of the Gaza Strip crossings; and the increasing attacks and destruction by Israeli settlers against farmers and olive trees, combine to raise serious concerns," stated the report.
The trouble doesn't end at harvest time. The political tinderbox in Palestine has led to the erection of a 'security wall' in the West Bank and a trade blockade in Gaza, with both measures severely disrupting domestic and international trade in Palestinian olive oil.
Export market potential remains largely untapped. Palestinian producers are accessing less than a quarter of their 2,000-tonne-a-year EU quota for olive oil, but a new link between the Fairtrade movement and Palestinian producers offers at least a partial solution to the deadlock.
The world's first Fairtrade-certified olive oil was launched in Dublin in February as part of the annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaign, and Fairtrade Ireland campaigners say the launch of the Zaytoun Fairtrade olive oil brand will help create a viable, long-term market for thousands of Palestinian farmers.
Nasser Abufarha, an olive oil producer and chairman of the Palestinian Fairtrade Association, which represents more than 1,700 farmers and producers in the West Bank, launched Zaytoun in Dublin and Belfast.
"We hope that this launch will focus attention on Palestine as a place of agricultural production and highlight the difficulties Palestinian farmers face in getting their produce to domestic and international markets," said Abufarha.
"By buying this product, Irish consumers are giving Palestinian farmers hope. Any economic exchange that recognises Palestinian farmers' rights and respects the value of their connection to their land is a major accomplishment."
Zaytoun olive oil is one of hundreds of Fairtrade products now available in Irish supermarkets. The ethos of the Fairtrade movement is simple: the middlemen and commodity speculators are removed from the equation; instead, products are sourced directly from farmers and producers, ensuring they receive a fair and stable price. Most Fairtrade Mark products are only marginally more expensive than the big corporate brand names and Irish consumers have reacted positively to the Fairtrade concept, with sales of Fairtrade-branded products doubling in the last three years to an estimated €30m in 2008. All the main retailers stock Fairtrade products, and discount king Lidl even ran a special in-store campaign for this year's Fairtrade Fortnight.
"The Fairtrade movement in Ireland has always been consumer-led," says Peter Gaynor, executive director of Fairtrade Mark Ireland.
"What we have seen in recent years is big business catching up with Irish consumers. It's not going to change the world on its own, but everyone knows that Fairtrade can make a difference."
At a time when Irish people are becoming more cautious in their spending habits, Gaynor says we should remember that "fairer trade is still the most fundamental issue for millions of farmers and workers in developing countries".
"Fairtrade Mark products shouldn't be seen as something to only indulge in when our own economy is booming. Fair trade is as much as imperative in recessionary times -- when prices paid to producers are likely to fall -- as it is in the good times," Gaynor added.
- Ronnie Bellew
