Olive industry again gaining ground

The olive, a contradictory fruit in that it is very delicate but very strong and resistant, which dates back thousands of years, is again gaining ground in Malta helping create a new but steadily growing industry.

Although there used to be many olive trees in Malta in the past, most were destroyed by the knights for the production of furniture, and by the British, who removed them to set up a cotton industry instead.

Local farmers are now again developing an interest in the production of olives, and the industry, although still embryonic, has been growing steadily for five years.

Peter Calamatta of Peter Calamatta Nurseries yesterday launched the fifth olive oil festival, which his company is organising.

The festival started with a seminar and continues until Sunday, with tasting of olive oil and other olive products. It is being held at the Peter Calamatta nurseries in Gharghar Valley, San Gwann.

Mr Calamatta said that 90,000 olive trees were planted in Malta in the past three years and more than 700 farmers had applied to grow olive trees and benefit from EU subsidies.

He said there were in Malta around 15 varieties of the fruit, some of which were mostly suitable for oil, some for eating and some for both.

There was a difference in the type of oil produced - some olives produced oil which was more bitter in taste, others produced sweeter oil.

Due to the climatic conditions of the Maltese islands, Maltese olive oil, Mr Calamatta said, had the advantage of having very low acidity - its acidity was in fact among the lowest, if not the lowest, in the Mediterranean. From the first pressing acidity levels were only 0.8 per cent, below the EU limits of one per cent for classification as extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil whose acidity levels were over this limit could not be classified extra virgin.

Maltese olive oil was also free from preservatives, it had to be stored in the dark and consumed within a year and a half. The oil should not be exposed to air or light as this would lead to its oxidisation.

The product was almost organic since very little or no chemicals were used and if the industry was nurtured well to continue growing at the same rate as in the past five years, it could develop into a big industry within 10 years or so.

Mr Calamatta said that although many olive groves were developing in Malta, replacing non-indigenous trees, hopefully returning the island to having the number of olive trees it had during the knights' era, there were some trees whose fruit was wasted since they were in highly polluted, traffic congested areas.

The seminar yesterday was attended by several importers of olive products and also the producers of Melité, Maltese extra virgin olive oil.

Andrew Busuttil, one of the producers of Melité, said that the company, which next November would be pressing olives, had 800 olive trees beneath Mdina.

Although it has until now only pressed its own olives, it was also interested in buying olives from farmers. The company's production was growing each year, with 700 litres produced last year and 1,000 litres planned for this year.

Environment Minister George Pullicino, who was present for the seminar, said that the future for olives in Malta looked bright and farmers were going into contracts which would guarantee the sale of their product and its price.

Although the task was not easy and there was still a lot to learn, the interest shown in the past years filled one with courage and the ministry would be completely behind those growing olive trees, providing both technical and material assistance.

Mr Calamatta said the aim of the festival, which he has been holding annually before the olives are picked, was aimed to get farmers in touch with the experts who could help them solve their technical problems.

Peter Calamatta imports olive trees from Italy and Spain and assists farmers in choosing the right varieties.