Following olive footprints in Portugal.

Abstract

With a population of ten million inhabitants, Portugal occupies the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, bounded on the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and on the north and east by Spain. Portugal is a territory of 89,971 km2, including the Região Autónoma dos Açores (Azores Islands) with 2,322 km2 and the Região Autónoma da Madeira (Madeira Islands) with 801 k m2. Its shape is roughly that of a rectangle, with its short sides on the north and south (286 km) and its long sides on the east and west (577 km), 36o 57' 42" to 42o 09' 15" north of the Equator and 06o 11' 20" to 09o 31' 01" west of the Greenwich Meridian. Administratively, the continental Portugal is divided into 18 districts within five regions; these are Norte, Centro, Lisboa, Alentejo, and the Algarve. Although the districts are currently in a process of being phased out, they are socially recognizable territorial divisions of the country. In spite of being a small country, Portugal has a wide variety of landforms, climate, and soils. The major contrast is between the mountainous regions of the north with its highest peak at the Serra da Estrela (2,000 m) and across the Rio Tejo, the great rolling plains of the south in Alentejo (<1,000 m). The 2007 Farm Structure Survey recorded 275,000 farm holdings in Portugal, representing a 15% decrease since 2005. These farms occupied 3.3  million ha of utilized agricultural area, 5% less than in 2005, which makes 18 ha the average size of a farm holding in Portugal, compared with 16 ha in 2005. Portugal has a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild winters, especially in the south, which is considered as one of the warmest European territories, with high summer temperatures moderated by sea breezes. In the north the weather is wetter, and cooler, particularly in winter. The country receives an average rainfall of 708 mm/year. This climate has always offered high potential to grow olives under rain-fed conditions. Therefore, in 2007 olive orchards occupied 292,162 ha in mainland Portugal representing 49.51% of the land used for permanent crops (590,156 ha). Olive was followed by vineyards with 172,765 ha (29.27%), nuts 68,877 ha (11.67%), fresh fruits 36,800 ha (6.24%), citrus fruits 18,083 ha (3.06%) and finally subtropical fruits 1,469 ha (0.25%).