Description of the state of Olive groves in Morocco.

Abstract

[EN]The olive tree is a traditional agrosystem around the Mediterranean, when pedoclimatic conditions (soils, climate, geology) are optima for its development. It is ordinary to find this tree in Morocco where it has been present for centuries, but they are troubled with several problems related with its environmental, social and economic sustainability, as water scarcity, soil degradation or loss of rural working days. Olives groves are now the subject of a development plan to not only keep the Kingdom at its current level (2nd world producer for canned olive and 6th for oil olive oil) but to conquer new markets on a global level and thus interest from the craze that this oil known for its benefits. The “Green Morocco” national plan allows, thanks to substantial subsidies, to renew the existing orchards with the traditional “picholine variety” from Morocco and planting of new varieties in super-intensive in order to intensify as much as possible new orchards. The same for the transformation of olives into good quality oil with the installation of modern crushing units which should eventually supplant the multitude of "Maâsra" and thus reduce the environmental impact due to the water sprouts. In the future, the olive will only be represented by its oil and its edible forms, but the residues from its extraction will be valued either in the form of fuel produced for the pomace, or in the form of a base of green chemistry for the refinery by-products.