Collapse of olive prices: The urgent appeal of the olive sector
A number of stakeholders in the olive sector, including farmers, traders and oil mill owners, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the collapse of olive prices in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid.
One of the farmers based in the Regueb delegation, stressed that the drop in prices to less than one dinar/kilo, makes the farmer unable to fulfill his commitments to suppliers of different agricultural products, fertilizers, besides payment for labor.
He drew attention to the need for urgent intervention on the part of the authorities concerned, to organize the process of selling the harvest, particularly after the announcement of the cessation of activities of several oil mill owners.
For his part, the farmer in the Meknassy region, Abdelhalim Hilal, clarified that the olive harvest this year was strongly affected by the drop in prices, leaving farmers burdened with debts to various creditors after ceasing the activities of harvest of their olive trees, which will have negative repercussions on the sector in the years to come, according to him.
In the same context, one of the farmers from the Souk Jedid delegation, Mohamed Ben Ali, explained that the situation of the olive harvest this year is “difficult”, noting that the farmer who can no longer leave the harvest on foot, constitutes the first affected element of the chain.
He considered that the fluctuation of prices, several times a day, is a sign that some traders and owners of oil mills are beginning to exploit the situation to their advantage, in order to make considerable gains, in the absence of any supervision from the authorities. concerned.
In the same context, several members of the regional council and local councils made a visit last Saturday to several olive sales and purchase sites, to try to discover the cause of the collapse in prices.
In this regard, the deputy of the regional council of Sidi Bouzid, Faycel Ghanmi, indicated that the fluctuation of the sale prices of olives requires the search for practical and rapid solutions by setting a minimum price which corresponds to the efforts of farmers and the costs of production.
Note that olive picking, in the governorate of Sidi Boouzid, began on October 16, with an estimated production of around 310 thousand tons of olives.
