A Review on Current Status of Olive and Olive Oil Production in Tunisia
This review highlights the current status of Tunisian olive production, challenges facing the sector and opportunities available. Olive, a fruit tree native to Mediterranean countries, is the subject of increased international interest for olive oil production for the global food market. Olive and olive oil production in Tunisia are of great socio-economic importance, with more than 70 millions olive trees including a wide range of cultivars and represents the third important leg in fruit production. Tunisia is the 4th largest producer of olive oil in the world and oil exports represent 40% of the overall value of agronomic exports and 5.5 % of aggregate exports, making it the fifth largest source of foreign currency earnings for the country. However, the actual production of olive oil could be increased by the entire contributors in the sector and by the monitoring by government extension services. Almost 2 out of 3 farmers grow olives in the country. The crop is spread over areas from the northern to the southern regions, where a wide range of edaphon-climatic conditions prevail, from lower semi-arid to arid conditions and receiving annually less than 250 mm of rain-fall (IOOC, 2003). So far, most of the production has been done using traditional techniques and under rainfed conditions. This translates into extremely erratic production levels depending on the year. The major challenges for olive production and for Tunisian producers are to improve fruit and oil quality in order to maintain their competitiveness on the international oil market and to meet consumer demands. The major opportunity available to develop Tunisian olive sector is primarily the improvement of yields, the raising of productivity and oil quality and meet the recent boom in demand for olive oil and table olive around the world.