Olive Festival Director: Advanced regulatory system enhances confidence in local products

Al-Qudah explained that the number of beneficiaries participating in the annual Olive Festival ranged from 750 to 800 people in previous years, rising to 1,150 people in 2025. The Ministry of Agriculture aims this year to reach more than 2,500 participants in the same venue and with the same capacity of 11,000 square meters.

He pointed out that the electronic registration platform allowed farmers, individuals, associations, and companies to participate easily and conveniently from their locations without the trouble of traveling, noting that it was linked to the Civil Status Department to obtain accurate data and prevent name duplication, allowing only one individual per family book to participate to provide the opportunity for the largest possible number and prevent monopolization of the platform.

He said that a specialized committee undertook the task of filtering, evaluating, and selecting the best products according to several criteria, including "the number of family members, the size of dependents, benefiting from National Aid programs, membership in associations and agricultural directorate activities, the presence of disabilities within the family, and benefiting from agricultural loans." He noted that new requirements were added this year, including "verifying the existence of digital pages for projects on social media to ensure that the participant worked and marketed their products throughout the year and not just during the festival, providing health certificates to ensure food safety, ensuring the quality of packaging, and attaching real photos of the products to verify their credibility."

He added that half of the festival's space was allocated for collective work instead of individual applications, including charitable, cooperative, and agricultural associations, the Beekeepers' Union and Federation, and cultural associations, with the aim of doubling the number of beneficiaries and providing visitors with the opportunity to view their products, in addition to the participation of supporting companies such as olive presses and food product companies.

He pointed out that the Ministry provided support and operational costs, including decorations, tables, a stage, audio equipment, the opening ceremony, a unique laboratory equipped on the exhibition grounds, and marketing via social media. It also employed modern technology through artificial intelligence cameras that accurately monitored visitor numbers, tracked the distribution of males and females and age groups, and the average duration of stay.

Regarding the testing system, Al-Qudah explained that olive oil undergoes precise tests, including fraud detection using advanced devices to ensure it is not mixed with other oils, in addition to acidity testing as a key indicator of quality; the lower the acidity, the higher the quality. If it exceeds 3.3 percent, it becomes unfit for human consumption and is referred to the Jordan Food and Drug Administration for use in soap and cosmetic manufacturing.

He added that sensory taste testing is conducted by 10 to 12 specialized teams holding international certificates, who use dark-colored cups to ensure they are not influenced by the oil's color, evaluating oxidation, poor storage, and mold. A new test was introduced this year for pesticide residues to ensure the oil is free from them. Once quality is confirmed, a unique QR Code is placed on each package, allowing visitors to read the test details via their phones.

Al-Qudah mentioned that the festival management takes samples of honey to send to the Royal Scientific Society, where it takes 7 to 10 days to ensure it is free from fraud and sugary substances, after which the response code is affixed to each package. A mechanism was also followed to utilize rural products such as fruits and vegetables with minor damage and surplus production to convert them into vinegar and jams, in addition to medicinal and aromatic plants.

He confirmed that desert oil is laboratory-superior to mountain oil, with lower acidity and better taste, because desert farms, which ranged from 2,000 to 3,000 dunums, received high care. The olives were picked and pressed on the same day and placed in ventilated crates with a dedicated press line reserved for them. This oil has won advanced international awards, noting that the participation of desert farmers last year contributed to doubling oil sales within the festival from 191 to 389 tons, while honey sales jumped tenfold, along with a variety of rural products, baked goods, popular dishes, and handicrafts.

Regarding price control, he explained that the Ministry did not intervene in setting them, leaving them to the mechanisms of supply and demand and the consumer's ability to distinguish, emphasizing that quality is not measured by price alone but by factors of concentration and ratios.

Al-Qudah presented success stories of young people who started their first production on a small table at the festival and have today become its supporters with paid spaces of 15 and 20 meters, having more than 36 branches inside and outside Jordan, and women who marketed soap and natural cream products through social media pages and established independent distribution institutions.

He pointed out that the festival witnesses a family turnout every year due to the integrated entertainment atmosphere it provides, including children's games, face painting, and participation from the Zaha Center and the Bee Museum affiliated with the Beekeepers' Union. This is in addition to focusing on school and university students through coordination with the Ministry of Education to organize field visits for school students, as well as agriculture and business colleges to see things up close, with the aim of encouraging graduates to develop products, pay attention to manufacturing and packaging, build a private brand, and hold training courses for participants in manufacturing and food health and safety.