“Each one tells his story, why he came to sponsor this olive tree and, in most cases, it is full of emotions (…): it is related to a child, a grandparent, an olive grove,” says Sira Plana, the former in charge of marketing in the cosmetics industry, returned to settle in Oliete, common almost abandoned the Aragon, not far from Zaragoza.
For 50 euros per year, it is possible to adopt an olive tree. And it works: 2500 sponsors have already come forward and receive a monthly photo of the tree that they were able to baptize. And once a year, supreme luxury, they receive two litres of oil. Some 100,000 olive trees at the abandoned (some of which are over 500 years old) surround this village of 364 inhabitants who had 2500 here is a century. Already, in four years, 7000 olive trees have been saved.
In fact, the operation of the sponsorship goes far beyond the olive trees, it is a whole village which in fact, is adopted by these patrons often city dwellers. The province of Teruel is abandoned by its inhabitants: a little less than ten per square kilometre as against 92 for the whole of Spain.
The government is interested
If the revival of the cultivation of olive trees has allowed us to create eight permanent jobs, the construction of a new mill has also been interpreted as a symbol of hope. Pilar Carbonell, councillor, said that the sponsorships were given to the inhabitants “the hope of launching a future project in the village.” It has attracted several families in the village, and, possibly, selected other. As a logical consequence, the presence of children has even prevented the closure of the village school.
This recipe sponsorship is very much appreciated in Spain. To Sarrion (Aragon), for example, the truffles are adopted at the honour, while in Extremadura the cherry trees are protected in the same way. The Spanish government is interested in this type of project. “Oliete is the evidence, according to a high commissioner of the government, that generations of young people began to see an opportunity in the life in the countryside. An idea that could also be imported from the other side of the Pyrenees.
