Agricultural Development in the West Bank (ص 119)
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- عنوان
- Agricultural Development in the West Bank (ص 119)
- المحتوى
-
y minimal use of hired
by all menbers of the family, with onl
dequate labour supply
eason to tenants, who
resort to
labour, put landlords with ina
leasing their orchards during the picking s
live crop.
are paid in kind by taking one third of the o
the better fruits,
After the crop is picked some of it, usually
6000
are selected for making pickles. It is estimated that about
tons are used in pickling, and the rest go for oil extraction
‘ is oo
(often over 80 percent of the crop). Pressing of olives is cone
by machines which vary considerably in efficiency. Practically
all olive presses charge against their services in kind, usually
bY deducting 9 - 11 percent of the olive or oil output. O41
extraction rate varies from 22 - 32 percent of the pressed fruits
depending, among other factors on the quality of pressing machines,
nd on the average it falls around 26 percent. The resulting oil
4s bottled in tin cans of 17 kg capacity.
Prfitabirity situation
“ore than any other type of agriculture, evaluation of olive
Profitability in the West Bank setting is riddled with complications
“hich render such a process difficult. There are so many
“riations in production techniques that it would be practically
‘mossible to give really accurate figures for profitability which
take into consideration all attributes bearing on costs and returns
Ff Olive farming. In lieu of a comprehensive study which takes all
“riables into consideration, this research has attempted to
“scertain the profitability of olives in just the dominant
*ttemns f olive culture. Sampled farmers were selected from
“shor Production areas as follows: Tulkara 9, Jenin 4, Nablus 7,
St Hamat Lats
5. Wery suall orchards of below 3 donums were
227
excluded from the sample, since their economic parameters are too
diversified to quantify in such a non-specialized profitability
study. The results of this study are summarized in Table (VI-5)-
The vast majority of olive farmers have inherited orchards which
are too old (at least from owners’ points of view) to justify
Worrying about rearing costs, because such costs have been long
amortized, Furthermore, olive farmers find it meaningless to
talk about fixed costs arising from interest on fixed investment
(mainly the market price of orchard land) for two main reasons.
Firstly, they are unwilling to consider selling their land even for
the sake of better investment opportunities. Secondly, the kind of
land grown with olives is usually so marginal that it is often
“erthless to convert it to an alternative type of farming. In
“reas where conversion is viable, farmers do not hesitate to make
the shirt.
‘ siniiar argument applies to labour. Being a typically labour-
intensive tree, much of the olive's labour needs are mobilized
"ton fanily menbers who command a negligible opportunity cost.
“tin, this is another iten of costs which famers would not take
‘to account when ascertaining olive profitability. When family
“bers sell their services in the local market (eg. a ploughman
Ploughing his orchard), then it is deceiving to ignore ploughing
&,
"8S, because they are real enough, though not paid out of a
tamer
"S pocket.
st of picking poses different problems. On about 30% of
Qos
®live orchards picking and pressing is undertaken by tenants
“Wines. a stinve of cae thiid atthe olive cil axtpet:, m thts
“© omers are exempted of all picking expenses. - تاريخ
- ١٩٨٢
- المنشئ
- Hisham Masoud Awartani
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