The Alentejo Sustainability and Olive Oil Program, led by Olivum and developed in partnership with the University of Évora, ends the first phase in June.
This program consists of creating a sustainability benchmark that will evaluate olive oil production in areas such as human resource management, water management, energy efficiency or heritage preservation.
A Olivum, Association of Olive Growers and Mills of Portugal, is developing, together with the University of Évora, the Alentejo Olive Oil Sustainability Program (PSA). This initiative is aimed at olive producers and mills in the Alentejo and aims to respond to pressing challenges in the region's olive sector., through the promotion and recognition of sustainable practices, in the environmental dimensions, social and economic.
The PSAA has three phases of development and is currently in the first phase, which will be completed by June, with the creation of the sustainable production benchmark. With a view to creating this sustainability benchmark, the areas of intervention contemplated include olive production, human resource management, irrigation management, energy efficiency, waste and by-product management, disease and pest management, air quality, olive oil quality, carbon neutrality, packaging and components, regional development and socio-economics, cultural heritage and landscape management, of biodiversity and ecosystems.
The first phase of the PSAA culminates in the creation of a self-assessment platform that allows the producer to assess and guarantee, through objective and parameterized criteria, the sustainability of his production.
Or pilot group, which was intended to be more restricted for reasons of efficiency, it's composed by 20 members, that represent 24.746 hectares of olive groves and 12 mills with a capacity to process 20 thousand tons of olives/day and which represent 10 Alentejo olive oil brands. However, since the start of the Alentejo Olive Oil Sustainability Program, in March 2022, there have already been several expressions of intention to join the program.
In the third and final phase of the PSAA, it is intended to develop a broad reference framework for the entire Alentejo olive oil sector and to assign a PSAA seal to certified products.
The Alentejo Olive Oil Sustainability Program is aimed at all Olivum associates, but not limited to. Any olive oil producer or mill can adopt the PSAA. And the goal is that, no future, this program can be extended to other regions of Portugal and across borders.
Olivum has already met with the Ministry of Agriculture to present the PSAA and, more recently, was on the Agriculture Committee, in Parliament, to present the program to the deputies.
