Olive trees breathe new life into Spanish village
loaded wit h ripe olives.
Spain is t he world’s largest producer of olive oil and Plana sa id t hat when people explain why they decided to sponsor a tree “in t he majorit y of cases, it is ver y, ver y emotional . . . linked to a relative, a child, grandfather, an olive plantation”.
Her gra ndfat her was once veter i na r ia n i n t his v i l lage, cur rent ly home to just 364 pe ople, dow n f rom some 2,500 people a centur y ago.
Of around 100,000 centuriesold olive trees abandoned in the area around Oliete, more than 7,000 have been revived by the adoption project launched four years ago.
‘More than a tree’
“It’s much more than a tree,” said Esther Lopez, a 41-yearold accountant, who lives near Madrid a nd adopted a tree three years ago.
“With my € 50 and the € 50 of ot hers, t hey can get a v illage which ot her w ise would be abandoned back on its feet.”
Resident s bega n mov i ng away f rom r ura l tow ns a nd v i l lages l i ke Ol iete, i n t he Aragon reg ion, a f ter Spain’s 1936-39 civ il war to f ind work in factories in cit ies.
Some parts of Spain were left with just two people per square kilometre – the same population density as in Siberia.
Slowly dying
T he prov i nc e of Ter uel, where Ol iete i s located, i s slowly dy i ng. It has just 9.1 inhabitants per square k ilomet r e , c ompa r e d t o t he nationa l average of 92.
Around 3,900 municipalities with fewer than 500 inhabitants are at “high risk” of disappearing, according to the Economic and Social Council of Spain, a body which advises the government on economic and labour issues.
E ig ht per ma nent jobs – i nclud i ng si x a g r ic u lt u r a l workers – have been created in Oliete thanks to a new olive oil mill, helping to keep families in t he v illage and att ract new residents.
In t ur n, t his prevents t he closure of t he school.
Elsewhere in Spain, similar projects have ta ken of f in v illages at risk of dying out.
Sarrion, in the same province as Oliete, has built an economy based around truff les.
A nd i n S or i a , a not he r depopulated region, an NGO has set up an organic farming project employing people in dif f icult y, while in t he wester n reg ion of Ex t remadura, cherr y trees can be adopted.
“If there is work I can stay here forever,” said newcomer Cesar Tarradas, 36, after using a machine to shake olives off the trees.
He moved to Oliete a few months ago to join his fat her, h i s s i s t e r a nd he r f ou r children.
“I would like to buy a house and make something of my life,” added Tarradas, whose family decided to leave Barcelona because of the soaring rents in Spain’s second largest city.
Wit h t he a r r iva l of young children, Oliete’s small school “will remain alive for another 10 ye a r s”, s ay s it s y ou ng teacher, Ana Lomba.
“Hav i ng a school is what gives strength, maintains the f lame of a v illage, because a v i l lage w it hout a school i s destined to disappear,” added Lomba.
She has six pupils under her cha rge, just t wo more t ha n the minimum authorised in Aragon.
‘See an opportunity’
T he school ha l lways a re decorated with pupils’ drawings which illustrate popular Spanish say ings about olive trees, such as “To be harder than an olive tree” and “Olive oi l cures a l l”.
“These olive trees have given a great deal to past generations,” said Plana, who quit a job in t he cosmetics industr y to move to Oliete and launch t he tree adoption project.
“They have allowed them to feed themselves, warm themselves, conserve many things, prov ided light,” she said.
Spain’s high commissioner for t he f ight against depopulation, Isaura Leal, said Oliete was proof that “generations of youths are starting to see an opportunit y” in liv ing in t he countr yside.
“It’s no longer seen as something for failures, for bumpkins, as our parents used to say,” she added.