‘T

HEY’RE over 500 yea r s old,” say s Sira Plana proudly as she points to Oliete’s olive groves, many of w h ic h a r e t h r i v i ng now thanks to an adoption scheme that has prevented this northeastern Spanish v illage from dying out.

For a n a nnua l fee of € 50 ($ 57), some 2,500 sponsors receive photos of t heir olive tree by mobile phone, a long wit h t wo litres (half a ga llon) of olive oil annually.

As well as the satisfaction of knowing their money will be ploughed back into the local economy and help create jobs, sponsors a lso get to na me their tree.

“We tried to do it in a way t hat people would get emot i on a l l y i nv ol v e d i n t he pr oj e c t ,” s a id Pl a na , c o - fou nder of “Adopt a n Ol ive Tree”, standing between trees