The life of Olive Farmers
A typical olive trees groves on the hills of the Galilee.
Sair Khassab and his aunt, Fatiyah Hasseeb, harvest olives in the village of Arura. Hasseeb finished harvesting her land and is helping her nephew with his 18 trees. She says harvesting olives saves them around 3,000 shekels (about $800) a year in buying olive oil, and they make 1,000-1,500 shekels selling what they don't need.
Saaja, 5, and Layla, 3½, collect olives picked by their parents Amjad Mahmoud Amsafir and Hiyam, who own 100 trees on six dunums (0.6 hectares). With her youngest children with her in the groves and the older ones coming to help after school, Hiyam estimates it will take her about 15 days to finish all of her trees.
While the whole family pitches in during olive harvest, women provide the bulk of the labour, despite the fact that land ownership, and therefore olive tree ownership, is overwhelmingly dominated by men. In most cases, women are the primary olive pickers as their husbands and sons hold day jobs that keep them from the fields. Women are also primarily responsible for cleaning and separating the olives.
This 800-year-old tree in the village of Quwara is owned by Sabri Arrar. Sabri owns more than 300 trees in all, but says the harvest this year was just so-so. "The rain keeps coming later and later and less and less, which affects production. We need to dig wells and build cisterns and irrigation networks because I see that water will be the biggest problem for the future," he says.
Ma an Tael Misaf, 13, brings his father’s olives in to be weighed. Ma an’s father, Tael, farms around 150 trees. Tael has nine children and is a member of the Beni Zeid Co-operative for Organic Olive Oil Production. Tael says being a member of the co-operative has increased his income by more than 50%, and helps pay for college and university fees for his three oldest daughters.
The final product: olive oil at a press. At the press, the oil is tested for quality standards.