The Olive (Olea europaea L.) Production in Northern Cyprus

Cyprus is considered to be a secondary centre of diversification for olive. It is reported that olive has been produced in Cyprus since the Bronze Age, and olive presence is witnessed by centuries old trees (even groves established presumably during the Lusignans). These monumental olives together with carob trees have very important eco-touristic value for the island. Although recent development in tourism and second home construction for local and foreign residents caused tremendous damage to the most beautiful Kyrenian olive groves, olive production is still very popular in Cyprus. There are some 500,000 olive trees still being cultivated in the Northern part of Cyprus. While the most common cultivar is 'Local variety', grown both for oil and table, the Turkish cultivar 'Gemlik' was introduced as an alternative in recent years. Besides propagation by cutting, grafting on wild olives is also utilized for olive propagation. 'Local variety' grafted on a wild olive stock is often preferred due to its tolerance to drought stress, and to salinization of ground water for plant production. The above conditions, together with an increasing demand of the domestic market, recently determined a shift from citrus production, the most important fruit crop, towards the olive. Nevertheless, there are still some 500 tons of olive oil and 1000 tons of table olive imported yearly.