The Akaki Grove in the Troodos mountains west of Nicosia has become a retirement home for older hens who roam freely among the olive trees on the farm once they’ve finished their first two years of laying eggs. As they roam, they are helping to restore the olive grove.
The hens, who are fed with donated food waste that is often collected from local school children, enrich the soil, help control the olive fly population, a common pest for Mediterranean olive farmers, and naturally manage surface weeds.
So “kot-kot” is really is a project of many wins.
“We provide them with an old hens’ home, they come here and retire,” says farmer Elena Christoforos, who inherited the farm from her grandfather. “The Kot Kot, as we have named it, is a program that brings hens from free-range farms, instead of being led to the slaughterhouse; they come here to serve us. They roam freely, eat whatever they find, are amidst the grass and flowers, have a good life, and do valuable work for us,”
Feeding the hens would be a cost, but Cyprus has a huge food waste problem. So they collect food waste and give it to the hens. “We get free food for the hens, and the hens provide us with fertilizer and work for us. The hens become our workers. They are our staff.”
“The goal here is to create a biodiverse, self-sustained ecosystem that can sustain really high temperatures and long droughts. So when I bring animals into the system by eating ground cover and pooping, it speeds up the cycle,” says soil engineer Nicolas Netien.
When Elena was five years old, her godfather, who lived in England, gave her a BBC videotape, a series narrated by David Attenborough about life on planet Earth. “I had watched it so many times that the tape had worn out,” she says.
She studied abroad and completed two degrees and two postgraduate studies before returning home.
“Today, we are a farm that produces olives, olive oil, and citrus fruits,” she says. “Emphasizing permaculture, we strive to do what is best for the environment. We want to have biodiversity because that helps. It helps with everything.”
“The first thing we do is bring the soil back to life,” says Nétié, who specializes in Environmental Engineering, soil biology, and waste management, and now works full-time on the farm. “The soil is the most complex ecosystem on the planet. If you have healthy soil, you need less water and less fertilizer, and you produce higher-quality products. At the same time, you help mitigate climate change.”
Netien, who holds the world record for producing olive oil with the highest polyphenol content, said olive tree growth and yields had improved markedly since the hens arrived.
“Our zero-kill policy and avoidance of pesticides, organic or otherwise, underscore our dedication to environmental stewardship.
Our olive oil is not just carbon-neutral—it’s carbon negative. From cultivation to distribution, we sequester more carbon than we emit, actively fighting climate change. For every liter of our olive oils it is 16 kg of carbon that are sequestered in our groves.”
And with full traceability from grove to table, you can trust that every bottle embodies our values of quality, integrity, and environmental responsibility.”
Sources
The feathered ”employees” of Akaki Grove. Knews, Mar. 12 2024.
Retired hens revitalise Cyprus olive groves. Reuters, Feb. 24 2025
Cover image: from the YouTube video posted by kathimerini cy March 11, 2024
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