How to bring 100,000 abandoned olive trees back to life thanks to ICT
Today I want to talk about bringing 100,000 olive trees back to life. These trees had been abandoned due to rural depopulation and the abandonment of traditional subsistence farming in the most inhospitable and remote part of Teruel, far from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
This real-life example is called Apadrinaunolivo.org, located in Oliete, Teruel, an oasis of peace and tranquillity, but in an area eager for initiatives to restore it to its former glory. A province with little traffic because the roads were built elsewhere, but a land full of attractions and endogenous resources that have the strength to restore the area to the splendour and dynamism of decades ago.
The transformative power of ICT and innovation: applying new logic to traditional processes
When I was a child in my village, Oliete, which could well derive from Olivetum, Latin for olive grove, you were either a farmer or a livestock breeder, or both, as was the case with my grandparents, José and Pilar, or a merchant or craftsman. There were no other possible occupations in a family economy that was not very modernised.
Due to the harshness of the countryside, women were relegated to housework and caring for the family, with few options other than to pack their bags and flee the village for the city in search of opportunities.
The dynamism of the big city soon aroused the curiosity of rural people and led the first adventurers to bring their families and friends with them, filling the cities with labour from the countryside and depopulating the villages. This demographic drain continues today, and rural areas continue to lose population, dividing the territory between rural and urban areas despite the efforts of the public authorities to structure the territory. A developed country is capable of generating wealth throughout its territory and making the most of its resources wherever they may be.
So many years of decline have taken their toll on the territory, and the defeatism and despotism of those who remained have ultimately sealed the fate of some rural areas.
But there is a glimmer of light on the horizon. The digital age has arrived, along with Virtuceno, and rural areas are beginning to breathe a sigh of relief because today, almost all of our villages are equipped with fibre optic networks and are seeing the gradual emergence of initiatives that can now be developed in the village without the need to be a farmer or livestock breeder.
Today, the most remote village in Teruel competes with the same bandwidth as the Big Apple or the centre of Madrid.
And so Apadrinaunolivo.org was born, an initiative that seeks to recover, protect and preserve 100,000 abandoned centuries-old olive trees through a land stewardship model that generates high social impact and a triple balance. It offers employment opportunities for people with disabilities or who are socially and economically excluded, rural women and young people who do not want to leave their villages. It also keeps the village alive and is a real example that it is possible to launch a project that combines agriculture with digital technology. Apadrinaunolivo.org is an initiative that connects sponsors emotionally with their olive trees and the rural world with the urban world through experiences and gifts. You receive two litres of EVOO from your sponsored olive tree, which we deliver to your home, and you can follow it through our Mi Olivo app.
We now have more than 9,000 sponsors in 28 countries around the world and are a real example of how innovation, technology and local resources can change reality. We help to export the model with Despertadores Rurales Inteligentes (Smart Rural Alarm Clocks) and sow the seeds of love for the environment in our youngest children with Apadrinaunolivo.org Educa.
Volunteering at Telefónica
Thanks to Telefónica volunteers, who have supported us from the beginning, and other volunteers, we have built a battalion of solidarity that is proving that there is a transformative energy capable of changing realities by combining small efforts.
And our dream is that ICT, together with innovation, will change the reality of rural areas thanks to driving initiatives that awaken existing opportunities and possibilities. We firmly believe in this: ‘The further away your dream is, the further it will take you.’
