Increasing Marketing Competitive Abilities for Palestinian Olive Oil

Prepared by :Aktham Badran

Dr .Thameen hijawi

(PARC)

Objectives of the project

The income of 1300 rural families will increased.430 tons of certified organic and faire trade olive oil produced annually 60% of total produced certified organic oil is extra virgin 50% of certified organic and faire trade olive is exported to international markets500 new farmers with a total of 10000 Dunums will completely convert their farms to organic system and get certificatesOlive grown area under organic system is increased by 200%7 olive oil mills will be rehabilitated and certified(organicand faire trade).

targeted locations by the project are:

Jenin,TulkaremQalqiliyaNablusSalfeetRamallah,Jerusalem Bethlehem

Project target groups:

1. Individual Olive farmers2. Farmers' in cooperatives 3. Olive mills4. Staff training and capacity

building

Individual Olive farmers

500 farmers were directly targeted through the training and capacity building activities and physical support and have undergone the farms conversion and organic certification process. These 500 individual farmers organized into cooperatives.Another (600) individual farmers have directly benefited from extension, capacity building through attending the training courses, field demonstrations and extension service.

Farmers' in cooperatives:

seven farmers’ cooperatives were targeted with two hundred stake holders.they were targeted through improving their administrative and technical capabilities.building capacities , providing smart physical subsidies, based on the requirements of organic farming certification. These cooperatives are already certified as organic olive producers but they obtained the renewal for their certificates through the project.7 new cooperatives were provided with the mentioned support to improve the product quality and promote the cooperative work within olive producers.

Olive mills

These mills have been also inspected and certified as organic processors and contracted by the project farmers and cooperatives.Mills rehabilitation process will be conducted in this year.

• Seven olive mills have been targeted by the project.• needs assessment survey (GAP analysis) was

undertaken for them.• they were provided with tailored technical support and

rehabilitation as well as up scaling their administrative capacities.

Staff training and capacity building.

Where 6 agronomists have been trained on three different topics, these are;organic, high quality organic olive oil

internal auditing all these training courses were conducted by PARC and COAP.

Farmers Technical Training

olive farmers have been professionally trained on all aspects of integrated production where two technical topics covered:1. Organic farming,2. High quality olive oil production,

Field Demonstrations Composting DemonstrationsEight central composting demonstrations at the 8 targeted districts have been conducted where farmers from the rest of targeted locations at different districts participated in these demonstrations. 165 farmers learned how to make and use compost as an organic manure for olive tree fertilization. During these demonstrations 215m3 of compost prepared as practical traing for them.

Pest Management Demonstrations• Twenty eight demonstrations have been conducted, one at

least for each of the targeted village.These demonstrations focused mainly on Bordeaux applications for diseases disinfection and the yellow sticky plates.

Pruning and Tillage Demonstrations

• thirteen pruning and tillage demonstrations for olive groves have been conducted .

• 465 farmers from the targeted locations at different district participated in these demonstrations..

improve project team technical and institutional capacities

three types of interventions :External Training which is delivered by ICEA in Italy where 12 members of PARC, AAA staff and COAP inspectors received their training about new technologies and practices leading to build the organic system

Advanced Technology Acquisition Programs for the Project Team

Certification Training for 5 persons from COAP team by Italian expert from Fair Trade Labelling Organization FLO in Palestine. External exchange visits for team members to one of the neighbouring countriesis planned to be carried in the third year.Internal Training for Project Staff. three local training courses have been offered to 6 agronomists. A training courses was offered to the project agronomist staff at the PARC training center in Al-Zababdeh and was conducted by PARC and COAP experts

Organic Farming System on Farmers’ Level

Farms ConversionConducting of field visits to the target farmsreciprocal visits among targeted farmerstechnical publications an applied research at pilot farms,

Physical Support

for Organic Farmers (and farmers in conversion process)project provide them with certain physical production inputs as:

1. Bordeaux mixture:. A total of 1168 kg of Copper Sulphate and 5502 kg of Hydrated Lime were used by the targeted farmers

2. Sticky yellow insect traps. 3. Partially fermented manure. 4. Pruning and Harvest Tools.5. Silver Pockets for Oil Storage

point.

Inspection and Certification Activitiesinspection and certification of farmers, cooperatives and mills has been carried out through the Center of Organic Agriculture in Palestinian (COAP) in cooperation with the Center of Organic Agriculture in Egypt (COAE). • Internal audit. it was conducted for individuals ,

cooperatives, which have been successfully undertaken by extension officers and COAP during July and August, 2008

• External inspection was conducted on individual farmers/ cooperatives/ mills ,marketing company by COAP / COAE during Sep to Nov, 2008 according to the organic standards .

Conducting an external audit for 500 framers and 40 members (20%) of the 7 cooperatives and 7 mills completed

Fair Trade Certification Procedures

The project focused on obtaining fair trade certification , and applications for fair trade certification were filled out by the 7 targeted cooperatives.The FLO inspector, Ms. Sheraz, conducted inspection. During the following season, FLO inspectors will visit the cooperatives and the certification process should be finalized.Fair Trade certification allows farmers to receive higher prices than they would in the conventional market.Under Fair Trade, importers pay an established fair price regardless of the volatile market.

Rehabilitation and Certification of Olive Millsseven olive mills were selected

based on specific criteria and observation visits. An assessment study from 20 applicants inspected according to the set of selection criteria, seven mills selected for organic productionGAP analysis carried out for the 7 selected mills to evaluate their current status and defining the gap to fulfil the organic production. internal audit carried out by the extension officer external audit carried by COAE/COAP.rehabilitation of the seven mills prepared and agreement signed with mills owners3. Additional 10 mills passed the procedures and were certified as organic mills by COAE on their own cost

Establishment of New Farmers’ Cooperatives

Six new cooperatives gathering 217 farmers were established. Capacity Building and Development of the Targeted Cooperatives:The capacities of the targeted cooperative developed through several capacity building and marketing programs Development of a Quality Management System (QMS)Logistic and physical Support for cooperatives.Cooperatives Training Courses.Two fixed (5 ton) and one mobile (1 ton) stainless steel oil storage tanksMobile labs for olive oil analysis Compost preparation equipments Cooperatives Training Courses:Cooperatives’ members who are involved in controlling and monitoring of product quality and marketing flow.

Marketing Activities

1. Market assessment study .This study was carried out for local consumption modes of

olive oil and olive pickles, and the marketing modes used by farmers themselves and olive oil marketing companies

2. Marketing and Promotional Campaigns.1500 copies of marketing promotional brochure in both Arabic

and English languages were distributed to consumers and attendees of events.

Participating in (7) local promotional eventsProduction of a short promotional video . Designing and printing a special label for organic extra virgin

olive oil produced by the project cooperatives. Signs and banners , and roll-up posters (3) that explain the

project objectives

3. Participating in several local promotional eventsPARC, Al-Reef contributed with a tasting corner in Ramallah exhibition organized by FTD and Ramallah municipality in Ahlyieh Collegeorganic extra virgin olive oil bottles labelled with the name of the project were distributed as gifts for visitors during the exhibition.More than 300 Arabic and English brochures, in addition to 300 promotional pens

were distributed .Salfeet Festival organized by PAL TRADE centre and Salfeet govenantecouncil PARC and Al-Reef contributed with a tasting corner in the exhibitionorganic extra virgin olive oil bottles, labelled with the name of the project, were sold and some were distributed as gifts for visitors.An Italian group (Olivetti de Italia) of olive oil tasting specialists made a special visit to PARC's corner in corporation with ACS partners to taste the olive oil.Promotional pens and 800 brochures listing the health benefits of olive oil and describing the projects objectives in both languages were distributed.

Jenin Organic daynational festival in which the majority of Palestinian food industry companies participate. more than 4000 visitors attended the exhibition.PARC, Al-Reef, and some of

the project beneficiaries contributed with special corners for organic extra virgin olive oil produced by the projects farmers in Jenin.This activity included testing

by visitors, presenting olive oil bottles labelled with the name of the project for sale and for promotional purposes, and distributing promotional pens and identification brochures.

Organic day

Organic day

French school (Jerusalem) exhibition and bazaarBottles of organic extra virgin olive oil, produced by the project farmers, were presented in the bazaar in Jerusalem at 5/12/2008 , sold and distributed to guests. This event included other activities such as olive oil tasting and distribution of promotional materials such as brochures and pens.A special promotional tasting corner for organic extra virgin olive oil was at the Plaza Mall in Ramallahlasted for two days (4-5/12/2008). two days before Eid Al-Adha (an official

Muslim fest). Therefore there was shopping traffic which assisted in targeting large numbers of people. Presenting, selling, and distributing 100 olive oil bottles labelled with the name of the project and a special card indicating it as a gift for visitors. Distributing more than 700 brochures about nutrition and health benefits of olive oil.Distributing more than 1000 promotional pens and brochures explaining the project's importance, objectives and locations.Most of Plazza visitors expressed high impression about the taste of the introduced oil by the marketing specialist

basically targeting the local market in main districts aiming to open new sale corners for olive oil. Conduct meetings with cooperative representatives, farmers, and Palestinian packing and marketing companies fix the prices and Implement a national promotional and marketing activities

Local selling “marketing” points

Samples, price offers and brochures were sent to Italian coordinator, to start marketing and contracting with Italian andGerman companies.ACS also contacted an Italian company interested in producing

pure soaps and detergents, prepared from olive oil, samples were sent to them in the beginning of 2009 preparing to BioFach event.Participating in international exhibition in Russia for promoting Palestinian olive oil during Oct, 2008. The exported quantities made through Al-Reef Company until the end of December 2008 were 55224 kg to 9 countries.participation in the Malaysia exhibition in May of 2009.Production of a 50 Second-video Promotional Spot for the

Palestinian olive Oil

International marketing

Partners and other Co-operationAgricultural Development Association (PARC) ,which is the leading and implementing organization. Arab Agronomists Association (AAA): which is the technical partner responsible for the field technical activities, particularly extension, capacity building and field supervision; these duties are also carried out under the direction of the project management staff in PARC.ACS (Italian NGO) which was involved in marketing and promotional activities for various local agricultural products , participation in main international events related to the marketing of organic and fair trade products , organizing international marketing deals ,marketing the oil quantities in appropriate mechanism and ensurefair prices, conducts visits to all interested companies proposing samples along with a price list and any other required information in order to evaluate the possibility of importing Palestinian Organic Fair-trade Extra Virgin Olive Oil. COAP Centre of Organic Agriculture in Palestine : The local inspection and certification body, who carry out the inspection and certification of all farmers, mills and cooperatives via COAE.

visibility actionsthe following visibility actions were undertaken:Banners were produced and displayed in the targeted locations and offices as well as during training courses.Roll-up posters used during marketing activities.logos are present on all documents.500 bottles of organic extra virgin olive oil (certified by COAP) were filled for the Europe Day celebration in Ramallah.The bottles were distinguished by their labels which expressed EU contribution. Promotional bags, caps, pens, and note-books were distributed.Tender announcements in local newspapers.Marketing campaignsDistribution of brochures addressing proper practices concerning olives and olive oil:

Harvesting the olive is a real celebration

Thank you for your Thank you for your attentionattention