EU Funds Moroccan Olive Industry, Sparking Concern Among Spanish Producers

According to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, only 780,000 tons of olive oil will be produced this season, compared to 1.5 million tons the previous season, a drop of nearly 50%. With this support from Europe to Morocco, Spanish producers fear the worst, especially since this financial support will increase Morocco’s production of olive oil and table olives and create fierce competition for Spain and other EU olive oil producing countries such as Italy, Greece and Portugal.

Morocco produced 200,000 tons of olive oil and 130,000 tons of table olives during the 2021/22 season, according to data from the International Olive Council. The kingdom’s production has been growing steadily since 1990. Morocco is the sixth largest producer of olive oil and table olives in the world. The 115 million euros from the EU are intended to support Morocco’s agricultural and forestry sector through the Tierra Verde program. These funds will be used to invest in food production, agricultural development and biodiversity protection, according to La Informacion.

"Morocco has just experienced the worst drought in 40 years, threatening water and agricultural systems," Olivér Várhelyi said in a statement, justifying the relevance of this agreement signed with Morocco. The agreement provides for the planting of nearly 600,000 olive trees of more than eight different varieties by 2030. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Moroccan olive oil exports increased by 47% over the first eight months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

The agricultural organization ASAJA Jaén has denounced this EU-Morocco agreement. "It is not acceptable that, now that we have the new CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), we continue to promote Moroccan agriculture to the detriment of European agriculture," the leaders of ASAJA Jaén criticized, deploring the lack of support for Spanish olive growers who will experience a disastrous harvest this year due to the drought. "This is an incomprehensible decision. The logic is that European aid should go to European farmers, especially in this period when we need it the most," denounces an olive grower from Jaén.