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The kernel of the argan fruit is rich in oil © Roman Königshofer

The argan tree is one of the oldest species of tree and is

only found in south-west Morocco. Its spiny branches and

deep root systems make it perfectly suited to withstand long

periods of drought.

In addition to being an ecologically valuable buffer against

desertification, the argan tree also has an important

economic value for the local Berber community. Its leaves

and fruit are eaten by goats and camels; its wood is used as

fuel; and oil is pressed from the fruit's kernel.

This oil is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid

and vitamin E which explains its medicinal value and its

reputation as ‘Moroccan gold’ or ‘the secret of the beauty of

Moroccan women'. For culinary purposes, oil is extracted

from roasted kernels; for cosmetic purposes unroasted

kernels are used.

"Traditionally, the production of argan oil has been a

women's business. Mothers passed on the skills of cracking

the nuts and of extracting the kernels to their daughters.

Women then pressed the kernels with a hand mill. Men

were only involved at the end of the process to sell the oil in

the souks," explains Zoubida Charrouf, a chemistry

professor at the University of Rabat. She understood that

the growing interest for argan oil offered sustainable

development opportunities for the region.

The final goal was – and still is – to preserve the argan

forest and to stop the advancing Sahara. But how do you

achieve that goal? "By providing people with a decent

income that is directly related to forest preservation. Major

companies have discovered argan oil and partially

industrialised the production. That is why a social alternative

was needed to provide an income to those who do the work,

i.e. the Berber women.”

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The argan tree is a buffer against desertification © Dirk Huijssoon

Cracking the argan nuts is work that is left to women

© TDC/ Josiane Droeghag

In 1996, Charrouf established the first cooperative of argan

oil producers and in 1999 the NGO Ibn Al Baytar was

created. Since then, the organisation has helped many

starting cooperatives and, with the support of international

donors and at a later stage also of the Moroccan

government, assisted a whole series of projects in the

region. Zoubida Charrouf recalls, “It was not easy. To boost

the oil quality we brought women together in small

processing entities where they could crack the nuts and we

could mechanise pressing. However, it was a culturally

sensitive issue to have women working away from their

homes. The first ones to join the cooperative were widows

and divorcees. Gradually but slowly things changed.”

Fifteen years later, results are noteworthy. The number of

cooperatives grew quickly and their turnover increased

impressively. Several cooperatives united into Economic

Interest Groups (EIGs), which handle commercialisation,

promotion and exports. For the first time women manage

their own income, which has given their status within society

a strong boost. Many thousands of women have also

learned to read and write. As a consequence more and

more mothers are sending their daughters to high school.

Along with others Ibn Al Baytar aimed to introduce a PGI

(protected geographical indication) label. This label, a first in

Africa, is important in the fight against fraudsters who use

cheaper pressing techniques or who mix argan oil with other

oils.

In 2010, the Trade for Development Centre (TDC) joined

this undertaking. It provided financial support to three

cooperatives to strengthen them in various areas:

management capacity development, the development of

quality assurance systems and the production of banners

and folders for promotion on the Moroccan and European

market.

Tighanimine is Ibn Al Baytar's flagship project. It is a

cooperative that was created by a group of women who

learned to read and write together. Spurred on by their

teacher, they succeeded in overcoming their husbands’

scepticism and launched their own cooperative. Thanks to

their success some have become the main breadwinners in

their households. The cooperative obtained both the PGI

label and organic certification over a short period.

To cap it all, in 2011 it became the first fair trade certified

argan oil producer group. In two years' time the coopera-

tive's turnover grew tenfold. The cooperative has also

recently been selected as a pilot to introduce an HACCP

system for risk assessment and quality assurance.

In 2014, the TDC decided to pursue support to women's

cooperatives. Ibn Al Baytar intends to use Tighanimine’s

success as leverage for the development of other

cooperatives and the region as a whole. Many cooperatives

are located in the Messguina forest, which is a 30,000

hectare stretch of the argan forest.

Over the past few years Ibn al Baytar and other NGOs have

brought together inhabitants and organisations of the area

in a broader forest stakeholders' movement. With the

support of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s NGO GoodPlanet

Foundation a plan was drawn up composed of several

ecologic, social and economic projects related to the

forest and argan culture. The Moroccan government also

decided to support the whole process by planting argan

trees.

“In the course of the 20th century more than half the

argan forest disappeared. Fortunately that trend was

reversed, thanks also to the promotion of argan oil and the

traditional know-how of women,” concludes Zoubida

Charrouf. “But we must also dare to look further and not

become too dependent on just one product. The forest is

home to many more medicinal plants from which we can

develop products. Also, the first ecotourism projects have

been launched. We must dare to dream."

The Belgian development agency BTC is also operating in

this same Souss-Massa-Drâa region, among others in a

long-running saffron and dates project. It is part of the

governmental cooperation's commitment in Morocco's

green – ‘Maroc Vert’ – plan which aims at the sustainable

economic development of the region, and especially of the

most vulnerable producers.

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The plucking of saffron crocuses is

women’s work

© TDC/ Josiane Droeghag

One of the 450 moroccan varieties of dates

© TDC/Josiane Droeghag

The project comprises three pillars: promoting sustainable

agricultural techniques, for instance in water management;

strengthening the position of the producers by establishing

cooperative and EIGs; and coaching them to commercialise

their products.

“Because the last item is essential for the success of the

project, the TDC was involved starting from the design phase,

conducting analyses and providing advice on the best possible

intervention strategy,” explains Josiane Droeghag, who has

been the Marketing and business management Officer of the

TDC since 2009. “What do potential clients on the national

and international market want and to what extent can young

cooperatives and EIGs from the region meet those demands?”

At the end of 2013 the TDC advocated the recruitment of

Claire de Foucaud, a marketeer and fair trade specialist.

Claire works locally with the local partner Office Régional de

Mise en Valeur Agricole de Ouarzazate (ORMVAO) to find

answers to these questions.

In a few remote valleys around the city of Taliouine, every

year some 3,000 farmers plant saffron crocuses in their fields.

The harvest is painstaking and labour-intensive work that is

left to women. And this is even before the most delicate work

is done as the valuable stigmas, or threads, have to be

plucked and dried. Approximately 150,000 flowers are needed

to produce 1 kilogram of saffron.

You will not notice much of the glamour of this ‘red gold’ in

southern Morocco. Most producers sell their saffron in an

informal way at the local souks, where they are not paid

much, even though they consider it a boon that they are paid

in cash, since their families often badly and urgently need the

money. It is not clear what the major companies from

Casablanca or Marrakesh further up the value chain do with

saffron, but quality is definitely not their first priority.

“We have to start from scratch with regards to market informa-

tion,” says Claire de Foucaud. “In a first study that we are

currently conducting we compare the quality of Moroccan

saffron with Iranian saffron – Iran represents 90% of global

production – and saffron from a few other countries.

Moroccans claim quality, but there is no scientific backing

for such a claim. The purpose of a second study is to map

the demand on the national and international market.

Buyers do not come from the culinary industry only. Incre-

asingly they have pharmaceutical and cosmetics interests.”

On the basis of both studies the cooperatives and EIGs will

be assisted in drawing up a marketing plan. While waiting

for the results, Claire de Foucaud and her Moroccan

colleagues do not sit idle. “As part of the move to organize

producers better, we actively look for direct contacts with

potential customers. For instance, a year ago we linked the

Maison du Safran in Taliouine, a recent EIG that brings

together 24 cooperatives and that should become a logistics

and commercial platform for the region, with Belgian

pharmaceutical lab Pharco, which sells food supplements

made from Iranian saffron. Pharco is also interested in

finding other suppliers of saffron, a compound of which

(safranal) is shown to have antidepressant properties.”

Since the production of saffron is mainly women's work, the

comparison with argan oil is self-evident. Again, widows

with a piece of land are the first who dare make the step to

a cooperative. “We hope that they too can become role

models and convince other women to get more money for

their work,” concludes Claire de Foucaud.

Another tree that is omnipresent in the oases of southern

Morocco is the date palm. The scale on which dates are

produced cannot be compared to saffron. For centuries

hundreds of thousands of farmer families have cultivated up

to some 450 varieties of dates.

But there are several striking similarities with saffron. Both

value chains are highly informal: two-thirds are sold at local

souks because the farmers are in urgent need of cash.

A significant share is used as fodder. Hardly any attention is

paid to quality and most dates are presented in rather

unhygienic wooden crates. In short, even high-quality

varieties are poorly marketed.

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Sources:

Project requests, evaluations and reports of the Trade for Development Centre. Argan oil, Moroccan gold, TDC brochure (in French), 2010, downloadable from http://www.befair.be/fr/publication/thematic-brochures/lhuile-dargan Interview with Zoubida Charrouf: http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/international/2014/03/10/spc-african-voices-zoubida-charrouf-a.cnn.html (3 parts) Ibn Al Baytar: www.association-ibnalbaytar.com Tighanimine: www.facebook.com/cooperative.tighanimine.3?fref=ts, www.fairtradeafrica.net/argan-oil/women-villagers-join-forces/ Goodplanet Foundation: www.goodplanet.org/maroc-avancees-du-projet-sur-la-filiere-argan/ Saffron and dates: www.btcctb.org > Countries and themes > Morocco > All Morocco projects > Développement des filières du safran et du palmier dattier dans la région Souss-Massa-Draâ - Safran-Dattes (in French)

Tighanamine is the first fair trade certified argan cooperative in southern Morocco

© Fair Trade Connection

Consequently, even Morocco's domestic market is invaded

mainly by Tunisians who have focused on one particular

date variety, the deglet nour, which they package in nice

boxes. At the airport tourists on their way home are most

likely to buy a box of Tunisian dates as a souvenir of their

holiday in Morocco.

“That is why we are conducting these date market studies,”

adds Claire de Foucaud. “We are looking into how we can

position twelve local varieties on the Moroccan market. A

second study looks into the advantages and disadvantages

of various packaging. At the same time we look at how the

structure of emerging cooperatives and EIGs needs to

change for them to function better.

One of the reasons why it is not really taking off is that they

hardly have any cash to buy the harvest of their member-

ship. There is also a cultural bias against lending money

from a bank for profit projects. One idea to break through

this vicious circle is to look for direct outlets in Morocco's

major cities in the north. Dates are mainly consumed on the

occasion of major religious celebrations. In other words, to

be a player on the market, you need storage facilities."

And, it so happens that the region has that asset too. Over

the past years, Millennium Challenge Account, an

American project, has invested significantly in Added-value

units, a series of small and larger storage rooms and

cold-storage warehouses to process and store local

agricultural produce. “In fact, they follow a different

approach than us: infrastructure is set up before structures

and people are ready for them,"

Claire de Foucaud concedes. “And there lies exactly one of

the major challenges for the cooperatives and EIGs and for

local authorities and the whole region: finding solutions to

manage these warehouses well and making sure they do

not become so-called white elephants.”

“This BTC project is formulated for the 2013–2019 period.

A time frame that will be needed to support the Moroccan

cooperatives and EIGs in finding markets for their dates

and saffron and in managing themselves properly,”

concludes Josiane Droeghag.

“At the same time we want to pay continued attention to the

position of women in this process. Unlike the saffron

culture, women are hardly involved in date harvesting.

But they are increasingly employed by cooperatives and at

the newly-started Added-value units to sort the dates.

Currently, their wages are still low and they do not have a

voice in the cooperatives. It is something we will keep

working on."

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The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of BTC or of the Belgian Development Cooperation.