`Plan to Boost Olive Oil from Jaén - Olive Oil Times

Plan to Boost Olive Oil from Jaén

By Charlie Higgins
Jan. 30, 2011 14:14 UTC

By Charlie Higgins
Olive Oil Times Contributor | Reporting from Buenos Aires

Economic lead­ers in Spain’s Jaén province have announced a set of ini­tia­tives that they hope will fur­ther strengthen the region’s huge olive oil indus­try. The provin­cial agri­cul­tural sec­tor will invest a total of 893,000 Euros in the plan in 2011.

Jaén’s vice pres­i­dent of tourism, local devel­op­ment, sus­tain­abil­ity, cul­ture and sports María Angustias Velasco described the move as, an invest­ment to encour­age the pro­mo­tion and mar­ket­ing of food prod­ucts in Jaén that the provin­cial gov­ern­ment will main­tain despite the cur­rent eco­nomic sit­u­a­tion.”

Valasco added that the cre­ation of qual­ity incen­tives, increased con­sump­tion and greater pres­ence of Jaén prod­ucts in national and inter­na­tional mar­kets are among the main goals of a project that’s been in the works for about ten years.

As part of the project, Jaén’s olive oil pro­duc­ers will par­tic­i­pate in a num­ber of upcom­ing gourmet food events with gov­ern­ment sup­port. These include the 9th International Gastronomy Summit Madrid Fusion” in January, the 9th International Meeting of Olive Oil Cooking in February, the Jaén Selection 2011 com­pe­ti­tion in March, the International Gourmet Club Exhibition in April, and Expoliva in May.

The Jaén ini­tia­tives also include new trade agree­ments with olive oil traders
in Australia, Moscow, Japan, South Africa, Italy’s Arezzo province and oth­ers in the European Union, all of which will attend Expoliva. Velasco stated that these agree­ments, are designed to sup­port Jaén com­pa­nies in their inter­na­tion­al­iza­tion and help to intro­duce and posi­tion their brands in new mar­kets.”

Jaén’s lead­ers have also pro­posed a greater com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­ity and eco-friendly prac­tices in order to remain viable in the increas­ingly green inter­na­tional mar­ket­place. In February the province will host a meet­ing to dis­cuss the use of renew­able energy in olive oil pro­duc­tion.

In order to fund the ini­tia­tives and con­tinue to pro­mote eco­nomic activ­i­ties in the region, par­tic­u­larly those related to food pro­duc­tion, Jaén’s lead­ers have requested sub­si­dies from the fed­eral gov­ern­ment. Additional fund­ing will come from Spain’s Olive Oil Foundation and other enti­ties that will be ben­e­fit from the ini­tia­tives.

Located in Andalucia in the south of Spain, Jaén is one of the most pro­lific olive-
pro­duc­ing regions in the world and sup­plies roughly 60 per­cent of all Spanish olive oil.

Sources:
www.ideal.es
www.euroresidentes.com

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