FAO/Mazen Haffar

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MAAR) had conducted a workshop to meet with key stakeholders of olive value chain, discussing together the areas for opportunities and challenges along the entire olive value chain, and proposing a strategy to upgrade its performance.

This workshop comes under FAO’s regional Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) “Evidence-based policy and investment for sustainable development of the value chains of Special Agricultural Products in the Near East and North Africa (NENA)” under the Organization’s global FAO initiative One Country One Priority Product (OCOP).

Olive as a priority product in Syria

Upon approaching six countries in the Near East and North Africa to participate in the OCOP initiative, the Syrian Arab Republic dedicated Olive as the country’s priority product for several reasons: 1) the long rich history of experience to produce quality types of olive (2) olive production does contribute to the country’s national economy, with more than 100 million olive trees within 670 thousand ha of lands across the country dedicated to produce this commodity (3) thousands of farmers rely on olive trees production as a source of livelihood, underlining the fact that olive is a favorable food   to the majority of Syrian people and  a famous ingredient added to the Syrian and the Mediterranean cuisines alike (4) the advanced global position the Syrian olive oil occupied until the crisis  started

The step forward  

Despite the more than 14 years crisis across Syria, the country is still positioned as a key exporter of olive products in the Middle East. Yet, the crisis has directly affected the olive value chain and somehow added a long list of challenges on all-line stakeholders of farmers, manufacturers, traders and consumers.

FAO and MAAR’s OCOP workshop on the olive value chain study validation was an opportunity to discuss areas of improvement in a two-way dialogue, that came out with outstanding results and steps forward:

1. The results of the olives value chain study have contributed to upgrading the national strategy to improve the value chain performance.
2. Sharing s matrix of the strategy pillars with the participating stakeholders to engage them into partnerships that will contribute to the strategy’s implementation.
3. The workshop was an opportunity for all partners, particularly the private sector, to provide feedback on the value chain’s status, and to initiate a meaningful discussion on improving olive production.