Olive growing in Sardinia, in the wake of the national trend, in the last ten years does not travel at full speed. Both on the side of companies (-36% in 2022 on 2021) that of productions (-13% production between 2022 and 2021). These are some of the data that emerged from the meeting organized by Agricultural cooperative company Op for the olive oil, table olives and other products sector, which refers to Coldiretti SardiniaIn partnership with Coldiretti Oristano. In addition to the top management of Apos and Coldiretti Oristano, olive growers, processors and organizations also took part in the appointment.
Over 3.200 tons of olive oil (1% of the national system) with over 43 hectares of cultivated olive area (Istat-Ismea data to 2021): these are the data illustrated by director of Coldiretti Oristano, Emanuele Spanò on production on the island. Sardinia, for olive oil in 2022, recorded a 13% drop in production with 3.142 tons produced compared to the 3.600 of the previous year. In terms of the number of farms, Sardinia has decreased by -35% in ten years (more or less in line with the loss of the national average -31%). In the island, therefore, the manufacturing companies between 2010 and 2020 increased from 31.212 to 20.382.
According to Spano “Producer organizations need to be strengthened to revive the sector to help better combat the problems of the sector, including highly fluctuating production, an overly pulverized supply chain, consumption that exceeds production and increasingly difficult climatic conditions – he underlines – in addition to the increase in heating and drought and that of frequency of extreme weather events, are some of the problems that olive growers are facing and will have to face in the coming decades”.
And he concludes: “That is why we must aim at strengthen research to make them assume an increasingly important role to provide indications on how to adapt to climate change and mitigate the negative impacts of the same on the productivity of olive groves and help the expansion of the POs as assistance to businesses".
