National Olive Festival

Olive trees are woven deeply into Jordan's economy, culture and history, and each November the National Olive Festival celebrates that relationship as one of the Kingdom's largest agricultural and economic events. Organised by the Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with the National Agricultural Research Centre, the ten-day festival coincides deliberately with the olive harvest season, and typically markets around a quarter of Jordan's entire annual olive oil production.

Every Jordanian governorate takes part, each showcasing not only its olive oil but the wider range of traditional rural products for which it's known — handicrafts, baked goods and family-run agricultural produce all find space alongside the main olive oil displays. Traditional Arab ovens are set up on site so visitors can taste food prepared using freshly pressed local oil, while lab technicians offer free quality testing for both producers and consumers throughout the event, with results labelled by QR code for full transparency.

Beyond its economic role, organisers describe the festival as a vital platform for small-scale farmers and rural women specifically, offering free space to market their products directly to Amman's consumers — a genuinely practical piece of agricultural policy dressed as a public festival.