"He stops at a gnarled trunk, its bark split and peeling from months of unrelenting heat. He points out that the branches should be sagging under the weight of ripening fruit, but instead they stretch upward, nearly bare, with only a few shrivelled olives clinging to the withered stems. Zoubi has tended these trees for almost two decades, learning their rhythms through seasons of abundance and scarcity."
"We've lost more than half of our crop before the harvest even started. Ancient olive trees in Irbid endure another season of low rainfall and rising temperatures. Photograph: Mohammad Ersan His story has become familiar across Jordan's olive-growing heartland. The country is facing its weakest olive oil season in four decades, with production down as much as 70% compared with last year. In a typical year, the olive-picking season begins in late September, and mills start processing by mid-October."
Ancient olive groves across northern Jordan are suffering severe heat and drought damage, causing widespread crop losses and delayed harvests. Production this season has fallen by as much as 70% compared with last year, and harvests started much later than usual. The crisis threatens a sector that supports about 80,000 families and generates more than $1.4bn annually. An estimated 12 million productive olive trees concentrated in Irbid, Ajloun, Jerash and Mafraq underpin rural livelihoods and near-total domestic self-sufficiency in olive oil. Low rainfall and rising temperatures have left many trees nearly barren and yields drastically reduced.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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