Karak - Ancient Roman olive trees are found across a number of towns and areas in Karak governorate. They stand as witnesses to an agricultural and historical heritage stretching back hundreds of years, with their environmental, productive and social value.
اضافة اعلان
Despite their resilience and the quality of their oil and fruit, this resource faces challenges in protecting it from decay and disappearance, renewing trees that are beginning to lose their vitality, and shielding them from disease, fire and soil erosion. There is also a need to document their locations, estimate their ages and prevent them from being damaged.
Specialised agricultural programmes and co-operation between the relevant bodies and farmers are also needed to ensure these ancient olive trees survive and keep yielding for future generations.
Ancient olives in Karak, known locally as "mahras" or "Roman", are concentrated in particular areas with ideal soil and climate, especially those with old, abundant springs and water sources. Among them are the towns and areas of Al-Hazman, south-west of the governorate, which has the greatest density of ancient trees. Some of these are estimated to be hundreds and in some places thousands of years old. The areas also include the towns of Kathriba, Ai and Juza in Ai district, Iraq al-Karak, and Al-Taibeh in the South Mazar district. These towns are known for very ancient varieties of Roman olives, of high quality for oil production and for table olives.
These old, long-lived trees stand out from others in their productive value. Fruit from ancient Karak olives is of outstanding quality for pickling and for oil extraction, compared with modern varieties. They also tolerate weather conditions and long periods of drought.
An agricultural and economic resource
In recent times, the areas where ancient olives grow have seen various efforts by farmers and the Karak Agriculture Directorate to protect these trees and sustain them for years to come, to keep them productive and preserve them as a national heritage and an important agricultural and economic resource for citizens. These efforts include programmes to renew or rejuvenate ancient olive trees to protect them from decay and death.
Farmers are working to propagate these tree varieties through new seedlings, to keep the original quality alive, while preserving the mother trees and providing all means of protecting them from disease and external factors, especially fire and soil erosion caused by torrential floods from heavy rain.
Efforts are also under way in ancient olive areas in Karak to document and protect these trees, which number in the thousands. The Karak Agriculture Directorate, working with the Ministry of Agriculture, is mapping the locations of these trees, scientifically estimating their ages, and setting strict controls to prevent them from being uprooted or illegally traded, to preserve them as a national heritage. It is also organising specialised training courses in estimating the ages of ancient olive trees, aimed at strengthening technical skills in documenting, dating and conserving these trees, and informing farmers about how to care for them.
The Karak Culture Directorate also organises local visits by popular and youth groups to ancient olive sites in Karak, to document the varieties and get to know them, and to learn from the experiences of farmers at the sites where these trees grow.
Karak's Director of Agriculture, engineer Mamoun Al-Adayleh, says ancient olives are an agricultural and historical heritage that deserves protection and documentation. He points out that the Ministry of Agriculture in the governorate is making considerable efforts to preserve ancient olive trees.
He stressed that ancient olive trees represent a national agricultural and historical heritage, given their civilisational, environmental and agricultural value. He said work is under way to map and document their locations, estimate their ages, study their genetic characteristics, and put in place programmes and plans to protect and preserve them for future generations.
Al-Adayleh explained that the olive tree has a remarkable ability to regain its vitality and productivity through what is known as "rejuvenation" or "complete renewal". The success of the programme to rehabilitate old trees depends on a complete package of sound and sustainable farming practices, to avoid losing them or seeing their output decline. The comprehensive programme for rejuvenating ageing and long-lived olive trees is built on several steps, the most important being gradual, measured pruning. If a tree is very old, it is better to cut the thick, dead main branches gradually over two to three years, to prevent shock to the tree.
He added that work also includes opening up the centre of the tree by removing tangled branches and dense inner growth, to allow light and air to reach the inner parts and stimulate new growth. After-pruning care includes painting large cut areas with a special farm paste, and spraying the tree with copper oxide to protect it from fungi and insects.
Integrated pest control
Al-Adayleh also pointed to work on tilling and turning over the soil, with shallow cultivation around the tree to aerate the roots and help them absorb nutrients, as well as building basins and furrows around the trunk and creating wide basins around the trunks of long-lived trees to make the most of rainwater, and applying water-harvesting techniques. A programme of intensive and precise fertilisation is also carried out, through autumn organic fertilisation, spring nitrogen feeding, and spraying the tree with zinc and boron before flowering to improve flowering quality and fruit set on newly grown branches.
He referred to the importance of integrated pest control to protect old wood and treat the trunks of long-lived trees against insect or fungal infections, removing infected parts, and immediately disposing of branches affected by peacock spot or olive knot, burning them away from the field to protect young growth. He noted that the programme's success becomes visible when the tree begins to show signs of renewal, with strong green growth and dark green leaves, followed by a gradual and multiplying return of production and oil yield over a few seasons.
Farmer Ahmad Al-Khatiba, from the town of Iraq al-Karak, said that ancient olive trees, some more than hundreds of years old, are spread across the town, particularly near its springs. They produce delicious table olives and good-quality virgin oil.
Al-Khatiba explained that many of these trees begin to weaken at certain stages, and that the renewal and rejuvenation programme is started through schemes provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and its extension officers in the area, so that the tree comes back to life. This is especially true for those affected by various diseases. He noted that the productivity of long-lived trees is high, and greater than that of newly planted trees, especially in oil production.
Mohammad Al-Mulahmeh, who owns an olive press in Karak, says that Roman olives from long-lived trees belonging to a farmer in the town of Kathriba in Ai district produced large quantities of oil compared with other types of oil, noting that the oil yield reached around 26% of the olive quantity.
Citizen Nidal Al-Rawashdeh from the town of Ai in Ai district says ancient olive trees are a social and national heritage that must be protected from disappearing or being lost. He says this can be done through preservation and continuity by various means, including renewing them to keep them going, because they are a national heritage and an important part of the agricultural economy, providing an annual income for a wide section of citizens, on which hundreds of families in Ai district and various towns of the governorate depend.
It is worth noting that Karak governorate has around 52,000 dunams of land planted with olive trees across its different areas. These are split between irrigated land in the Karak Valley, Al-Aina, Ai district, Iraq al-Karak and Wadi Bin Hammad, and rain-fed land in the rest of the governorate, particularly in the Karak Castle and South Mazar districts.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting by: Hashal Al-Adayleh
