Dear Olive Oil Forum members,

I need your help to find some good (for both oil and eating) olive grafts to graft on wild mature trees of Olea europaea ssp Africana in the Ethiopian highlands.

There is no production of Olive oil in Ethiopia and the imported olive oil is extremely expensive. There is a growing market for olive oil among the rich Ethiopians, and the poor farmers in the highland need a new cash crop.

There are many remnant (older and younger) olive trees (Olea europaea ssp Africana) in the highland farm fields but their fruits are small and no oil can be extracted from them. These trees will sooner or later end up as fuelwood unless they get a higher value live than dead.

I would like to do an experiment with grafting european olive grafts onto those old (and younger) trees since planting new trees will take too long until they bear friut.

Can someone of you olive experts give me a suggestion of a good type of olive and an adress to a company that sells them via the internet. And I would be very happy for any suggestion of a superior grafting method.

Thank you very much in advance,
Maria Johansson
(PhD student in highland forest ecology)

Maria,

I don't know the climate of Ethiopia but you should check on the winter cold before you start selecting cultivars. Olives require a winter cold period. Without sufficient cold they will not fruit.

Your next decision is whether to grow the classic oil varieties which come from the north shore of the Mediterraean and are well known for their quality oil (for example Frantoio, Moriaiolo, Leccino etc) or to pick cultivars from North Africa which are also good oil producers but are not so well recognised in the market place. These cultivars will probably have a lower cold requirement.

You may also find it useful to contact Olives Australia who have considerable experience in growing olives "out of area." They are based in the high country of Queensland which is a sub tropical region with summer rainfall not the winter rainfall found in the Mediterranean.

The founder of Olives Australia is I think working on an aid project in Nepal and if you can contact him he might provide you with some useful advice.

Grafting is a practical skill that needs an experienced person. My attempts have all failed.

Cheers Brian Chatterton

Dear Brian,

Thank you for your tips. I will contact Olives Australia. The climate is afro-montane, cool rainyseason and dryseason with hot days and cold nights.

If grafting is impossible, maybe I should try the new varieties that fruit within 15-20 years?

Maria

Hi,

I believe grafting is possible. But i recommend you use cultivars from north africa and middle east (like: "Nabali", "Piccolin Marroquin", "Zeituna") that will probably adapt better to the Ethiopian climate.

As for a grafting method, since we are talking about grafting adult trees I suggest you use patch budding. You should read this file: http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/cro...ding_08_05.pdf

Also I suggest you contact the Olive Institute in Tunisia ( Olive Tree Institute (IO) ), maybe they will be able to give you plants and some more info on the cultivars.

Cheers,

__________________
João Correia
Cascais - Portugal
____________________________________________
msn: jorgegranja@yahoo.co.uk

skype: JoaoJCorreia

Maria,
I think you are unduly pessimistic. Olives should come into production well before 15 - 20 if they are fertilised and looked after. In this part of Italy we expect to wait 8 to 10 years but that is because we have frequent winter frosts that scorch the growing tips of the young trees and slow growth.

In Australia where the winters are much milder I have seen trees in full production at 8 years (with irrigation)

The climate still worries me. You talk about wet and dry seasons but the Mediterranean climate where olives thrive is winter - wet and summer dry. Your climate is the other way round I believe. The summer rainfall causes problems for olives but they are not necessarily insurmountable.

One lesson to learn from the Australian experience is not to plant a mish-mash of cultivars from all over the world. Olives need cross-pollination for optimum yield and the cross-fertilisation of cultivars from different countries is not known - although Australian researchers are trying to catch up on this work.

Cheers Brian Chatterton