85 64,898 66,246 67,782 71,054 59,157 46,770 34,600 28,952 23,486 8,747 11,335 12,750 13,612 Olival in Alqueva: sustainability, investment and regional development JOSÉ PEDRO SALEMA Chairman of the Board of Directors of EDIA – Empresa de Desenvolvimento e Infraestruturas do Alqueva, S.A. Portuguese olive sector. Over the last two decades, Portugal has seen very significant growth in olive oil production, driven mainly by increased productivity and the establishment of new areas of modern, highly productive olive groves in the Alentejo. Between the mid-1990s and the present day, domestic olive and olive oil production has almost quadrupled, with this growth being strongly driven by the expansion of production in the Alentejo and the introduction of modern irrigation systems. This development has profoundly transformed Portugal’s position in the international olive oil market. In around twenty years, domestic production increased by more than 320 per cent, The development of modern olive groves within the catchment area of the Alqueva Multi-Purpose Project (EFMA) represents one of the most significant transformations in Portuguese agriculture in recent decades. Benefiting from the availability of irrigation, the favourable soil and climate conditions of the Alentejo and technological advances in agricultural production, the olive sector has established itself as one of the region’s main economic activities, playing a pivotal role in boosting the local economy. Currently, olive groves are the dominant crop in the Alqueva irrigation areas. By 2025, the area under this crop had reached around 76,589 hectares, corresponding to approximately 60 per cent of the system’s irrigated area. The expansion recorded over the last decade reflects the competitiveness of this production in the international context and the growing professionalisation of the regional agricultural sector. The expansion of modern olive groves in Alqueva must be understood in the context of a broader transformation of the Figure 1 – Olive grove area in Alqueva 2011–2025 (ha) 90,000 80,000 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 74,057 76,589 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
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