Sunday, November 26, 2023, 07:46
Olive oil, an essential part of any Mediterranean pantry, is on its way to becoming a luxury item. Indulging in excellent extra virgin olive oil for toast and salad used to be more common, but now it’s almost prohibitive. Picual, hojiblanca or arbequina, exclusive ‘liquid golds’, there is something for all tastes, but few will say that their survival depends on just a hundred trees. These are the ones that produce the oil that is most difficult to access in the entire Vega Baja, the one that is collected year after year in the palm grove of Orihuela, the second largest in Europe after that of Elche. The City Council and owner of this majestic orchard manages the monopoly of this broth, which has often served as a gift to illustrious visitors, as well as to promote tourism for the city in the highest forums.
Last week, the workers of the company in charge of maintaining this environment declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), Actúa, began to collect those precious olives with canes to take them in vans on the way to the oil mill. These specimens, about 220 of which only half are in production, are located at the foot of the mountain slope and in a protected bend between the palm trees and the San Antón neighborhood.
In previous years, between about 1,800 and 2,000 kilos of olives have been obtained from these very selected specimens, the approximate production that is also expected to be harvested this year. As a novelty, the City Council is considering that, as aid, part of the production is destined for charitable purposes and donated to vulnerable families through local entities.
Whoever the diner is, with all this there is no doubt that the oil is the palm grove’s most vaunted product, but it is by no means the only one that comes out of this unique place that has its roots in the Andalusian era. There are also fig trees that are not yet in production, although, as is evident, the date harvest is always the largest. Fruits that, although they are not eaten, are used for the study of the different existing varieties and constitute a reservoir, an archive of that ‘genome’ of the Oriolana palm tree and a fruitful source of the dozens of seedlings that are grown in the municipal greenhouses to give offspring to their fallen elders.
Alfalfa against the reed
In the past, the palm tree, in this case, served not only as a crop, but also to mark the boundaries between terraces while the plain was used to plant everything from citrus fruits to vegetables and cereals. At this time, explains the Councilor for the Environment, Noelia Grao, these crops continue to be practiced due to the need to put a stop to reeds. And among the three traditional cereals of the area: wheat, barley and alfalfa, she says, “the latter is the most effective.” “Currently there are approximately four hectares planted.” Once harvested, she explains, it is used again as an organic amendment to regenerate the soil.
The next agricultural expansions in the palm grove, adds Grao, will already be citrus. In that sense, they have already located two possible plots: one next to the sports center and another precisely next to the olive trees area. “We are talking with the Polytechnic School to choose the variety that can best grip the terrain.” The botanical compendium is completed by cotton, “whose purpose is essentially didactic. Right now, we are receiving a lot of interest from schools throughout the province. We have also begun to collaborate with students from the El Palmeral Institute. We already have two working in the nursery,” says the Environment councilor.
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New plots to put a stop to the weevil pest
The battle that continues to put the palm grove in check continues to be the weevil. But no matter how much the City Council sometimes invests, this is not enough due to the lack of empathy of some private owners who, despite being obliged to keep their plots clean and their palm trees weeded, ignore them. In this sense, the City Council usually sends a notice to all owners precisely on these dates reminding them of their duty. Even so, there are lands such as those adjacent to the El Palmeral institute that appear full of garbage and, most worryingly, plagued by the palm-killing beetle. Specimens that, very soon, jump onto municipal land causing havoc among healthy specimens, some of them very old.
This is why Councilor Grao has asked to allocate an item for the 2024 Budget – currently being prepared – for subsidiary executions, that is, so that, in the event that these owners do not respond to the requirements of the Consistory, it will act. out of pocket and then bill you accordingly for the repairs and cleaning. Grao assumes that this should not be the usual way of proceeding, hence, he states, sooner or later and when the City Council has the liquidity, it will end up purchasing those plots that are abandoned within the palm grove to guarantee their preservation and avoid them, In addition, damage to adjacent areas such as the weevil, which, together with the fungi, are the main causes of the enclave looking less and less dense.
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