In Algeria’s Harsh Interior, Dahbia Builds an Award-Winning Olive Oil

Summary

Dahbia Olive Oil, pro­duced in Algeria’s Djelfa region, thrives under chal­leng­ing con­di­tions and won a Silver Award at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. Founder Hakim Alileche empha­sizes qual­ity, envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, and trace­abil­ity, with a focus on pre­serv­ing local cul­ti­vars and pro­duc­ing excep­tional olive oil through organic prac­tices.

Fifteen thou­sand olive trees spread across 40 hectares are thriv­ing under extreme con­di­tions in Algeria​’s Djelfa region. Far from the parts of the coun­try where olive trees have tra­di­tion­ally been cul­ti­vated since ancient times, Dahbia Olive Oil is cel­e­brat­ing the Silver Award it won at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Set between Algeria’s Mediterranean north and the Sahara, Djelfa’s high plateaus are defined by cal­care­ous soils with low organic mat­ter and lim­ited water reten­tion. The cli­mate brings hot, dry sum­mers and cold win­ters marked by frost.

“Djelfa is a demand­ing region, with a semi-arid cli­mate and rich land that needed to be devel­oped,” founder Hakim Alileche told Olive Oil Times. ​“That chal­lenge is exactly what attracted me. These con­di­tions force the trees to draw deeply from their resources, result­ing in oils that are highly con­cen­trated, rich in polyphe­nols and full of char­ac­ter.”

Alileche said he grew up in a fam­ily of olive grow­ers in Kabylie, one of the country’s main olive-grow­ing regions along the Mediterranean coast. Compared with Djelfa, Kabylie has a milder, more humid cli­mate and sig­nif­i­cantly higher rain­fall.

Before turn­ing fully to olive farm­ing, Alileche worked for years in graphic arts. He said the pull of the land never faded.

“I grew up with the image of the olive tree, a sym­bol deeply rooted in our cul­ture, almost sacred in Algeria,” he said. ​“Olive oil has always been part of my her­itage and daily life.”

Returning to agri­cul­ture, he added, was the result of a search for some­thing essen­tial and tan­gi­ble. Leaving behind sta­bil­ity was not easy, but he believed he could build some­thing last­ing.

In a coun­try where tra­di­tional farm­ing and milling meth­ods still shape much of olive oil pro­duc­tion, Dahbia set out to become a model for mod­ern, high-qual­ity pro­duc­tion.

“I had a strong foun­da­tion of ances­tral knowl­edge, but I also wanted to go fur­ther, improve prac­tices and raise the level of qual­ity,” Alileche said. ​“That’s when I chose Djelfa, a chal­leng­ing region, dif­fi­cult to work with, but rich and gen­er­ous for those who take care of it.”

From the out­set, he decided to avoid chem­i­cal inputs and rely on organic prac­tices. The first har­vest took years to arrive, but he said the delay was part of the plan.

“At the begin­ning, the vision was sim­ple yet ambi­tious: to pro­duce an excep­tional olive oil in Algeria, capa­ble of com­pet­ing with the best in the world,” he said. ​“I also wanted to demon­strate that our coun­try has the poten­tial to posi­tion itself in the pre­mium seg­ment.”

The early years were shaped by trial and adap­ta­tion, from work­ing with com­post and man­ag­ing water to under­stand­ing how the land responded. Those dif­fi­cul­ties, he said, even­tu­ally became a strength.

Today, Dahbia empha­sizes qual­ity, envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship and trace­abil­ity. Alileche said the com­pany has grad­u­ally taken full con­trol of the pro­duc­tion chain, from the tree to the bot­tle, with con­stant atten­tion to detail.

That approach was not imme­di­ately embraced by neigh­bor­ing grow­ers. ​“It was met with skep­ti­cism,” he said. ​“Many peo­ple didn’t under­stand why I chose early har­vest­ing and lower yields. But over time, the results spoke for them­selves. International awards, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and con­sumer recog­ni­tion have changed per­cep­tions.”

He believes lower yields should not dis­cour­age pro­duc­ers from pur­su­ing qual­ity. ​“That is when the fruit expresses its full poten­tial,” he said of early har­vest­ing. ​“It requires more effort and sac­ri­fice, but the dif­fer­ence in fla­vor pro­file and nutri­tional value is incom­pa­ra­ble. For us, pro­duc­ing less but pro­duc­ing bet­ter is obvi­ous.”

Dahbia typ­i­cally begins har­vest­ing in the first weeks of October. Local olive vari­eties, espe­cially Chemlal, play a cen­tral role in its award-win­ning oils.

“Preserving local cul­ti­vars is essen­tial, as they rep­re­sent a valu­able agri­cul­tural and cul­tural her­itage,” Alileche said. ​“In a glob­al­ized world, it’s impor­tant to high­light what makes us unique.”

He said those vari­eties are espe­cially well adapted to local con­di­tions and give the oils a dis­tinc­tive iden­tity. While Chemlal is widely grown across Algeria and in Kabylie is often asso­ci­ated with milder oils and solid yields, the cul­ti­var pro­duces more intense oils in Djelfa’s harsher envi­ron­ment.

Across the groves, Dahbia uses no pes­ti­cides or chem­i­cal fer­til­iz­ers, accord­ing to Alileche. Natural com­post, the recy­cling of mill by-prod­ucts and care­fully man­aged drip irri­ga­tion are part of a broader effort to sup­port bio­di­ver­sity and main­tain nat­ural bal­ance.

“Dahbia is an olive oil with strong char­ac­ter,” he said. ​“It stands out with an intense green fruiti­ness, with fresh herbal notes, green almond and some­times a hint of arti­choke. On the palate, it is well-struc­tured and bal­anced, with a pleas­ant bit­ter­ness and a con­trolled pun­gency, signs of high polyphe­nol con­tent.”

He described it as an expres­sive oil that reflects both the ter­roir of the high plateaus and the way it is pro­duced.

That char­ac­ter helped secure Dahbia’s NYIOOC recog­ni­tion. ​“NYIOOC is one of the most pres­ti­gious com­pe­ti­tions in the world,” Alileche said. ​“Winning a medal is a great source of pride. It is a recog­ni­tion of our work and a val­i­da­tion of our choices.”

He said the award is mean­ing­ful both per­son­ally and pro­fes­sion­ally, rep­re­sent­ing years of effort while also open­ing doors in inter­na­tional pre­mium mar­kets.

For Algeria’s olive oil sec­tor to advance fur­ther, Alileche said, pro­duc­ers will need more spe­cial­ized train­ing, wider adop­tion of best prac­tices, invest­ment in mod­ern equip­ment and stronger cer­ti­fi­ca­tion sys­tems. Just as impor­tant, he added, is build­ing a cul­ture of qual­ity among both pro­duc­ers and con­sumers.

His mes­sage to young pro­duc­ers enter­ing the sec­tor is to trust their poten­tial and resist the temp­ta­tion to fol­low estab­lished pat­terns. Quality, he said, requires time, patience and dis­ci­pline, but it pays off.

Looking ahead, Dahbia plans to expand in a con­trolled way, increas­ing pro­duc­tion with­out com­pro­mis­ing stan­dards. The com­pany is also devel­op­ing new projects, includ­ing eco­tourism cen­tered on a guest­house in the olive groves.

Internationally, Alileche said the goal is to deepen Dahbia’s pres­ence in European and North American mar­kets and estab­lish the brand as a ref­er­ence point for Algerian crafts­man­ship.