Libya’s ‘green gold’ olive industry hit by export ban

– Concrete threat –

Only two percent of Libya’s 1.7 million square kilometres (650,000 square miles) is arable land, in a country famed for vast swathes of desert.

It boasts more than eight million olive trees, according to the agriculture ministry.

To the east of Tarhuna lies the Msallata region known for its centuries-old olive trees that yield distinct sweet and strong-tasting oil.

But it has been hit by urbanisation in recent decades.

Cutting down olive trees had been strictly forbidden before Kadhafi came to power in 1969, said Mokhtar Ali, whose farm includes 600-year-old specimens.

And the chaos that has engulfed the country since Kadhafi’s fall has further diminished the stock of trees.

Nowadays “olive trees are torn up with impunity to make charcoal or to replace with concrete,” Ali said.

But he remains optimistic, seeing a silver lining in attempts by several farmers to preserve the country’s heritage, by either planting native species or importing new trees from Spain.