Béjaïa forecasts 16 million litres of olive oil this season

Olive oil production in Béjaïa wilaya is forecast at close to 16 million litres in the 2026/2027 season, according to the local agricultural services directorate. Algérie Eco reported the figure on Monday, 2 November.

Mohamed Boutiba Benkelaouz, director of agricultural services in Béjaïa, told the Algeria Press Service (APS) that the forecast now stands at 16 million litres. The olive harvest started on 29 October in Bouhamza commune.

The wilaya has 57,000 hectares of olive orchards. This is 12% of the national olive orchard and nearly 45% of the wilaya's farmland.

A planting programme of 100,000 olive trees on 230 hectares was completed in the 2025/2026 season, at a cost of 470m dinars (DZD).

The wilaya has 393 oil mills: 133 semi-automatic, 100 continuous-chain and 160 traditional mills. Together they can process an estimated 2,260 quintals of olives an hour.

Support for new modern mills continues through agricultural loans from the public authorities. Several funding requests are being examined by the services concerned, Mr Boutiba Benkelaouz said.

The Local Directorate of Agricultural Services (DSA) plans to renew and intensify olive orchards and to develop irrigation, in order to improve tree productivity. He also said the mills need to be modernised and extended across the wilaya, and that local oil should be promoted on national and international markets.

Olive areas hit by fires will get a planting and orchard rehabilitation programme as part of compensation measures, according to the director.

A meeting with olive sector professionals in the wilaya is planned soon, where several questions on developing the sector will be discussed, the DSA said.