THE ROLE OF OLIVE GROWING IN A DEVELOPING AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM: THE ITALIAN CASE

The interconnection relationships between the economic development and the adjustment spurs for the agricultural sector are analyzed. The former is subdivided into the two relevant stages of "growth" and constant development. The olive growing and industry are subject to an inevitable decline as far as the structural and economic importance concerned during the "growth" stage of the agricultural sector, due to the competition by other productive processes and structures, which foster the available investments. Subsequently, the combination of high average per capita incomes, which increase the demand for quality foodstuffs, and technical progress, which introduces innovations in the olive productive process, confine olive growing to the range of alternative productions, which are possible above all in those areas where climatic restrictive conditions for not allow any other tree cultivations.