President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has presented a bill to Iran’s parliament under which his country will join an International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives. The Ministry of Agriculture proposed the initiative to the cabinet, which endorsed Iran’s accession to the international treaty under the auspices of the United Nations.

The Iranian parliament is yet to ratify the bill, which aims to preserve olive species and facilitate the export of olives and olive oil to international markets. Olives are presently cultivated in 18 provinces across Iran and production reached 65,000 tons for the year ending March 2006. Some 50 per cent of olives produced annually is canned.

An olive cultivation expansion scheme has been underway in Iran for 15 years and has received considerable funds in recent years. Some 6,000 hectares of orchards in Gilan and Zanjan have been set aside for olive cultivation.
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Guidelines to help European olive oil processors reduce their waste are being developed by an EU-funded project, reports www.cee-foodindustry.com.

Tougher EU environmental regulations are forcing up costs in the olive oil industry. In the process, it is becoming less competitive against processors operating under less stringent conditions outside the bloc, project organisers say.

The Integrated Approach to Sustainable Olive Oil and Table Olive Product (NASOOP) is an EU-funded project. The project leader, Bremerhaven Techology Transfer Centre, has completed research on a set of guidelines to help the industry reduce costs and waste.

The olive oil industry produces about 10 million tonnes of residues each year, which cause soil pollution and other problems.